A religious threat to NYSC scheme

 

 Recently at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp in Benue State, there was misunderstanding between a Muslim lady and the camp commandant. The thrust of the disagreement was alleged violation of the dress code by the former, who wore a long-flowing black hijab.

Sources said the young woman was mainly to blame for not only wearing the long hijab (Jelbab) to the orientation camp contrary to the statute regulating the scheme, but also for unlawfully entering the camp when she was not one of the serving corps members.

The incident did not only consume the camp commandant, but also assumed religious dimension with several Muslims alleging that derobing their daughters and wives publicly was an infringement on their fundamental rights to freedom of worship.

They further described the ban placed on certain dressing, especially the long hijab, as religious victimization, insisting that the hijab is an integral and vital part of a female Muslim’s dress, without which, female Muslim corps members feel as if they are naked.

 Fireworks

Adding voice to the call for NYSC authorities to rescind the ban on wearing of hijab, the League of Muslims Youth in Da’wah recently staged a peaceful protest march to the office of the NYSC Director General, Brigadier-General Johnson Olawumi, at the Abuja headquarters to register their disapproval of what they described as draconian NYSC Act on dress code.

National Coordinator of the group, Luqman Hassan, who led a six-man team, insisted that the ban on hijab is an infringement on the fundamental human rights of female corps members.

His words: “We came to discuss with you the incident that happened recently in various NYSC orientation camps across the country. We have a guiding principle, which is based on the Holy Q’uran.

“We are all Nigerians and the principle which guides us is the constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples Rights. Members of the NYSC are Nigerians who have contributed to the development of this country. Female corps members deserve protection by the NYSC.

“We don’t believe that a female corps member putting on hijab has done any wrong against the Act establishing the NYSC. So, they deserve the respect of the NYSC. We have travelled far and wide and visited different camps. Why are the rights of female Muslim corps members infringed upon? We have tried to calm down our members planning to protest but we want to register our displeasure first, before taking the next line of action and calling a press conference to address this issue.”

 Looking beyond religion

Reacting to the religious interpretation of the ban, the Director General had appealed to all to look at the matter beyond myopic religious prism, but from the realities of terrorists using women wearing hijabs to conceal Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and unleash mayhem on innocent Nigerians.

He said: “We will continue to accord respect to the freedom and rights of every corps member irrespective of tribe and or religion. Secondly, your leader said that there are lots of things happening in the orientation camp but he only pointed out the incident that happened in Benue State over a Muslim female corps member who wore long hijab.

“In this country, security is very key to everybody. When parents release their children to us, it is our responsibility that they are safe and secured when they return to them at the end of the service year.

“In reviewing our security strategy and architecture, one of the issues we identified is the danger that will occur if we allow both those who want to use it for a very holy way and for evil ways of bombing. In recent times, there are cases where young girls wear long hijabs with IED strapped round them for a suicide mission.

“These terrorists, especially the Boko Haram, know how to get at their target. In most cases, all they need to do is to blend and cause havoc. We don’t want that to happen in any of our camps. That was why we frowned at Muslim female corps members wearing long hijab.

“I want to seize this opportunity to urge you to appeal to all our Muslim youths, especially those going to orientation camps, that the restriction is just for the period of the camping. They should just adhere to it and wear the short hijab for purpose of recognition.

“We frown at the long hijab because of the security implications. If you can help us communicate it down the ladder, it is going to help the scheme and the security of our corps members. We challenge you to document all the areas the NYSC scheme is trampling on the rights of Muslim youths.

“I urge you not to be particular about Muslim youths alone, but to equally document the one meted to the Christian youths as well. I can assure you that once you document them and give to us, we will investigate them and apply sanctions where necessary.”

 More misunderstanding

However, the Muslim Rights Concern (MURIC), recently issued a press statement rejecting the purported ban on long hijab in NYSC orientation camps, insisting in the statement by its director, Ishaq Akintola, that the ban is unacceptable to Muslims.

The group argued that the prevailing insecurity in the country was not enough reason for female corps members to be denied their hijabs, stressing: “MURIC rejects the purported ban. It is reckless, baseless and preposterous. The pronouncement smacks of power drunkenness. It is a hate statement. The NYSC Director General needs to purge himself of Islamophobia.

“On what grounds is he banning the use of hijab? Security reason is not enough because we have examples of armed robbers using police uniforms to rob, yet no one thought of banning police uniform.

“The DG and his like are hiding under the security challenge facing Nigeria to implement a hidden agenda to stigmatise Muslims and embarrass our daughters and wives who wear hijab. Is he aware that female Muslims in the British police use hijab on top of their uniform? Can he tell us how the hijab disturbs a corps member’s uniform? Does the DG know that hijab is an integral, nay, most vital part of a female Muslim’s dress? Does he know that female Muslim corps members feel as if they are naked when disallowed the use of hijab? Is he aware of the psychological trauma such female Muslim corps members go through? How can we spend a lifetime training our daughters to dress decently and you dehumanize them in your camp? How dare you?

“We will use every constitutional means to stop this religious apartheid against Muslims in the name of discipline and regimentation. Why must Muslims face persecution everywhere in Nigeria? Why can’t the Nigerian system accommodate and integrate the Islamic culture? Why can’t Nigerian officials allow Islamic trademarks to stand pari passu with British colonial and Christian culture?”

Other religious threats

The debate and brouhaha over the ban on wearing of long hijab is certainly not the only religious problem confronting the NYSC scheme. In a chat with a director of the scheme, he confirmed that Christian hardliners popularly known as “born-again”, equally posed serious concern.

“After reviewing the entire security situation in the country with all the state coordinators, we gave marching order that nobody should use long hijab. We hinged our decision on the new development of the graduates from the South refusing to serve in the North because terrorists dressed in long hijab might disguise as corps members to detonate bomb in the camp.

“NYSC has a responsibility to ensure that everybody mobilized for the scheme returns to his/her parents after the exercise. Besides, it is practically impossible to perform all the rigorous camp activities during orientation wearing long hijab.

“Participation in NYSC is not compulsory, except when you need the discharge certificate for employment. Anybody can decide not to take up the employment requiring the presentation of the discharge certificate.

“What would those protesting the ban on long hijabs say of NYSC if peradventure, there is a bomb blast at the NYSC orientation camp? It is by God’s grace that we have not had such incident, but we can hinge it on the security measures we have put in place to avert it.

“It is not enough to whip up sentiments, portraying the scheme as insensitive to religion, especially to Muslims, without knowing that we even bend the rule to wake up by 3.00am to cook and ensure they eat at the right time of 5.00am during Muslim fasting in camp.

“The problem of dress code is not peculiar to only Muslim corps members, we also have the same challenge from Christians. We have had cases of born-again Christians refusing to wear trousers. They would turn our trousers to skirt but we will turn it down. We have even decamped many of them based on their refusal to wear trouser.

“Again, there are members of Jehovah Witness Christians, who vowed never to take oath because it is against their religion. We had no option than to decamp them because oath-taking is the most integral part of the orientation scheme.

“Every corps member must subject to the oath and pay allegiance to the federal government. Obedience to rule is the first law in religion and anybody, who cannot obey the rules of a constituted authority, has no reason to be part of it.

“Beside these problems, there is another one which if we had not used our ingenuity and wisdom to handle, would have degenerated into a religious crisis. We have had cases of Christians and Muslims wanting to erect structures along Christian and Muslim denomination instead of worshipping in the churches and mosques we built for them.

“It will amount to creating more problems allowing different Muslim sects and Christian denominations to build structures in the camp. We had to wield the big stick to curtail the proliferation of churches and mosques in the camp”, he said.

 Fixing the odds

Since it has become difficult to interpret the NYSC Act on dress code without religious sentiment, it would be in the interest of the country and the scheme for Nigerians to consider the overall benefit of such regulation in view of the prevailing security situation in the country and the world.

It is debatable whether the management of the scheme should bend the rule to accommodate all the religious differences, especially when such will not disturb the corps members from the rigorous exercises in the orientation camp.

However, to ensure that the scheme lives up to the objectives of its establishment 42 years ago, Nigerians must put behind them religious sentiments and address the more practical problem of rejection of corps members seeking primary assignment or reducing graduates from Nigeria high institutions to tea ladies and men.