By Emeka Ezekwesili-Okodu
On Saturday, 16th October 2021, Brig-Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim was honoured with Public Service Award, alongside other distinguished Nigerians by The Daily Sun. The honour is coming on the heels of similar honours bestowed on the general by some private and public institutions, for his exemplary and excellent service to Nigeria.
Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim was appointed Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps on 10th May 2019. Before his appointment, he had earlier had a stint with the service corps, as Military Assistant to Director-General in the late 90s, then as a young officer full of zest.
Fortuitously, he got appointed to head the Corps, twenty years after he left as a principal aide to the then Director-General, now, Major General Samson Dule (retired).
Frankly speaking, one would have thought that with time, and having risen gradually and steadily in the Nigerian Army – attaining the enviable rank of General, much of his vigour as MA to DG, as a young Lieutenant and Captain would have left him, apparently having seen it all.
Shuaibu Ibrahim, who is not only an officer and gentleman; an astute administrator and academic of no mean repute – Associate Professor of Military History has proved sceptics wrong, as he remains consistently consistent in his sterling attributes of character.
He wasted no time in rolling out a five-point agenda, thus, giving a clear-cut direction on the perspective of his administration in May 2019.
In unmistakable terms, he demystified the opulence and glamour associated with high office in Nigeria, making himself accessible and available, not only to NYSC staff members and corps members whom he loves so much and treats as his biological children but the media and other stakeholders as well. Interestingly, before the drop of the hat, he has given out his telephone number on request and personally picks his calls.
He is a man that I have been following in the last two and half decades and has never ceased to amaze me at the amount of energy and passion he puts in the discharge of his duties. He is proactively proactive!
One of the critical issues that he did on assumption of office was to bring sanity to the NYSC mobilisation process which hitherto suffered so much assault from unscrupulous officers in some Corps Producing Institutions, particularly those in West Africa sub-region who fraudulently forward names of unqualified people for mobilisation.
He called a meeting of the Registrars of the institutions in Abuja in a bid to get their buy-in towards sanitising the mobilisation process. That singular action yielded great dividends. Some of the unscrupulous officers were sanctioned, while some of the institutions were shut down by their respective governments. The internal cleansing mechanism put in place by the scheme also saw the dismissal of some erring officers from service.
In addition to that, he introduced the screening of foreign-trained prospective corps members, particularly those that graduated from the universities in the West Africa sub-region. Quoting the astute and pragmatic administrator, the result of the screening has “been mind-boggling. Some of the supposed graduates parading bogus degree certificates, with second class upper division could not write their names correctly, let alone make correct sentence during the screening exercise which has been institutionalised.”
The soft-looking, but no-nonsense General vowed never to mobilise unqualified people for service. Some of those parading bogus and unearned certificates have equally been jailed to serve as a deterrent to others.
Ibrahim believes so much in forging worthy partnerships with both public and private institutions of like minds. In particular, the robust collaboration with Nigeria Centre for Disease Control resulted in the safe return of the youth corpers to the orientation camps, under the supervision of the NCDC.
He has ensured that willing prospective corps members, as well as serving corps members and staff members, get vaccinated against COVID-19. Gratifyingly, the data generated on COVID-19 tests at the orientation camps help the NCDC in tracking the rate of infection in the country.
Shuaibu Ibrahim who is an embodiment of humility, without any trace of airs, is unarguably a great asset to the nation. He is a man that believes so much in the utilisation of youth corpers’ potentials for national development. He is detribalised, humane, and blind to religious persuasion.
Though a devout Muslim, he believes that true religion is the pursuit of people’s welfare and happiness; and would always speak to people on the ephemeral nature of human existence. He is always concerned with touching lives and leaving worthy legacies for which posterity will remember him when he has gone to be with his maker. No wonder he has continued to pay the school fees of some less privileged students, cutting across tribe and religion.
Yes. He believes so much in the utilisation of the youth corpers’ potentials for national development like I had earlier stated. This conviction prompted him to challenge the creative ingenuity of corps members last year at the outbreak of COVID-19 in Nigeria.
That challenge yielded so many inventions by the Corps Members, ranging from body temperature reading devices to automated sanitiser machines, as well as liquid soap, water sanitiser, dispensing machines, among others. Corps members were amongst the first set of Nigerians to produce liquid soap, sanitiser, and facemasks which were donated to Nigerians, free of charge.
He established NYSC National Troupe, revitalised NYSC Musical Band to showcase the musical skills of corps members. The first NYSC Film, titled: ‘A Call To Service’, featuring some corps members and Nollywood stars such as Pete Edochie is awaiting the premiere. The film has introduced some budding talents to the vast opportunities in the Nollywood industry.
The NYSC Farms have been resuscitated, notably the rice farms and poultry farms. The same applies to the NYSC water factory, bakery, and garment factories all of which are operated by corps members and serve as the veritable training ground for them.
Indeed, I was amazed when the Director-General announced that the scheme for the first time in history contributed to the national coffers from internally generated funds, an unprecedented in the annals of the scheme.
[Continued online]
Emeka Ezekwesili-Okodu is an Abuja-based public affairs analyst
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