NYSC and pregnant corps members

The NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, said at a two-day pre-mobilisation workshop for the 2015 Batch “B” of the programme in Kaduna, that the temporary exemption of such categories of prospective participants, and post graduate students from national service was because they would not be able to undergo the rigorous cardinal camp activities […]

The NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Johnson Olawumi, said at a two-day pre-mobilisation workshop for the 2015 Batch “B” of the programme in Kaduna, that the temporary exemption of such categories of prospective participants, and post graduate students from national service was because they would not be able to undergo the rigorous cardinal camp activities under the scheme, including orientation, primary assignment and winding-up passing out parade.
At the end of the meeting in Kaduna, the Corps also resolved that henceforth, pregnant women and children would no longer be allowed into orientation camps across the country for service under the scheme established in 1973.
Stressing  that prospective corps members must go through all the stages of national service to qualify for a Certificate of National Service, Olawumi expressed displeasure that prospective corps members, especially pregnant women and nursing mothers, would be absent from stages of the national service, only to reappear for posting to various places of primary assignments.
The NYSC appeared to be taking a tough line on this, because orientation camps clearly had become a place of gathering of people in a chaotic manner, with pregnant women, nursing mothers and some with even toddlers, all in the name of national service. This by no means was the original concept of NYSC, which was modelled after a Paramilitary organisation, well-equipped, but not armed, to take part in national emergencies and areas of special needs at short notice. That is why the orientation aspects of the training must be strictly adhered to and enforced.
That is how a return to the original concept of the scheme would be possible to bring sanity back to the organisation.
Because batches have been introduced due the exponential increase in number of participants, pregnant women or nursing mothers that feel they can’t leave their babies at home should have the consolation that they still have a chance to perform their duty to a grateful nation, when they are done and physically strong enough to do so.
The NYSC should not limit the changes to this directive only; the scheme as a whole needs sprucing up to accommodate changes in society that have occurred over the years.
As it is, apart from pregnant women and nursing mothers crowding the camps but doing virtually nothing else, married women that serve where their husbands live hardly sleep in the camps; they go home and return the next day, obviously with the connivance of the camp officials.
Not taking part in the early morning physical activities makes a mockery of the rules of orientation.
In addition, corps members with friends or relations in high places also take part in this habitual truancy, and don’t get punished. 
Pregnant women and nursing mothers will most likely comply; but the officials who condone, abet or turn a blind eye to the practice must be identified and disciplined. 
 The scheme was designed to imbue participants with national pride and willingness to serve the county. Such values are as relevant today as at the time it was created.
Therefore any form of indiscipline, which the scheme abhors, must not be allowed to prevail.
In the case concerning postgraduate students, some prefer to pursue their education further after their graduation without participating in NYSC first.
If this is what they choose they should stick to it and go for the NYSC later, but certainly not when they are still taking fulltime academic pursuit, which would mean staying outside the camp.