For many Nigerians, legislators in Nigeria legislate nothing but larceny, lethargy, levity, luxury and licentiousness. (The senator who rained slaps on an attendant in an Abuja sex toy shop readily and gorily springs to mind like an acrobat.)
For many, the men of ample stomachs and amplified snores who fill the seats under the once leaky roof of the National Assembly Complex look out for nothing but themselves, their outrageous allowances and opportunities for pugilism along party lines.
Of course, since 1999, there have been luminous moments of legislative clarity, perhaps none more so than the rejection of Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo`s ridiculous attempt to strangle Nigeria`s infant democracy and constitution as he pushed a traitorous third term agenda.
Perhaps, that was the only time bulging bags of new naira notes failed to sway oversize girths at the National Assembly.
Otherwise, humongous amounts collected as constituency project funds fizzle into thin air; bills meant to gag Nigerians are sponsored, read and assented to with lightning speed while incompetent executive and judicial appointees are allowed to coast into sensitive national offices without even a semblance of painstaking scrutiny.
On the rare occasions when partisanship causes the legislators to levitate into the realm of sound legislative debates, they soon descend, rather embarrassingly, into brawls and fisticuffs.
Each time the mace becomes a battleax instead of the symbol of legislative authority, horrified Nigerian parents rush to change television channels so that children – who are future Nigerian legislators – do not get to see that the perverse is even possible in one of Nigeria`s most sacred spaces.
So, at the behest of Mr. Usman Zannah (APC- Borno), the House of Representatives recently mandated its Committee on Youth Development to investigate the alleged refusal of the NYSC to reopen its orientation camp in Borno State which was shut down about ten years ago due to insecurity.
According to Mr. Zannah, peace had since returned to Borno State making the refusal of the NYSC to reopen the camp inexplicable and unacceptable.
What peace has returned to Borno State?
Has the state ceased to be the favourite stomping ground of Boko Haram and ISWAP?
Did ISWAP terrorists not rain mortar bombs on Maiduguri, the Borno State capital, on December 4, 2021, injuring a sixth-month old baby?
Was it not in Bulguma, Askira Uba Local Government Area of Borno State that the indefatigable Brigadier General Dzarma Kennedy Zirkusu was slain by ISWAP terrorists on November 13, 2021?
Were seven Nigerian soldiers not slain in Rann, Kala Balge Local Government Area of Borno State by ISWAP terrorists on December 3, 2021?
Were more than five officials of the Borno State Government who were supervising a road construction along Chibok road in the state not kidnapped by ISWAP on December 1,2021?
How then can anybody say the state is now safe?
Is the Green Chamber under an illusion spell? When last did Mr. Usman Zannah visit his constituency in Borno State to access the plight of his people?
This disingenuous disinformation by the Green Chamber that Borno State is now safe does grave disservice to the long-suffering people of Borno State, Corp members and Nigerians as a whole.
Nigeria`s war on terror would have been more successful were it not for the treacherous lack of transparency about the true state of affairs.
An endless litany of lies about how terrorists have been reduced to dust continues to find ceaseless recitation in the lips of state propagandists and pay-as-you-go journalists.
In spite of the heroic efforts of Mr. Babagana Zulum, the Borno State Governor, there is no doubt that the State remains a danger zone.
It is into this maelstrom of insecurity that the House of Representatives wants the NYSC to send our children so they will become practice targets for teenage ISWAP terrorists.
If there was any sliver of sanity left in the NYSC, it would have long stopped sending Nigerian graduates to every state roiled by terrorism all in the name of national youth service.
The NYSC`s mystique has long expired.
The scheme which was born more out of one man`s need to expiate his guilt for atrocities committed during the Nigerian Civil War than any genuine attempt at national rebuilding, reconstruction and reconciliation has since become a hollow husk.
Nigeria`s disquieting descent into insecurity has resulted in the killing or kidnapping of many Corps members travelling to their states of posting.
Many have become prize targets in terrorism`s feud with Nigeria.
Yet, the legislators, many of whom are stuck in and around the Federal Capital Territory and cannot visit their constituencies for fear of terrorists, ask that the orientation camp be reopened.
The reluctance of the NYSC to do so is commendable. But Nigeria`s engagement with a scheme devised as a sop to the walking wounded of the Nigerian Civil War must transcend mere reluctance.
The scheme has outlived its usefulness.
It must now journey to history`s refuse heap.
It cannot be reformed. Its inefficiency and contagious corruption make it unsalvageable.
Young Nigerian graduates sponsored through Nigeria`s treacherous higher institutions with the sweat, tears and blood of their parents must no longer be sent to their deaths all in the name of national youth service.
There is nothing youthful or useful about a scheme that now allows many to select their postings or even get discharge certificates without as much as breathing the air of their so-called places of primary assignment.
Nigerians would be best served if the legislators, many of whom are too petrified to leave Abuja, expend their energies elsewhere.
It is wishful thinking for the legislators to presume to declare Borno State peaceful while marooned in Abuja.
They should visit Borno State, travel to its interiors and ask the people there if they feel safe. Until then, any such conversation, much like the scheme itself, will remain stale, specious and self-serving.
The legislators can give whatever mandate they may to whichever of their committees they wish.
The incurable illusionists of Green Chamber can huff and puff.
But never again will our children be fed to the bloodthirsty hyenas which patrol Sambisa and her sister forests.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
