Always Visit www.NaijaCover.Com

Posted By Udokabestluv On March 9th, 2023

Over the years, there have been calls to cancel the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC program. Initiated in 1973 after the Nigerian civil war to involve Nigerian university graduates below the age of 30 in nation building, the scheme was eventually opened up for polytechnic graduates as well.

But while security and various other considerations have threatened the continued relevance of the scheme, many young Nigerian women continue to brave the odds, sometimes travelling hundreds of miles from their homes and comfort zones, many of them with pregnancies and babies.

One of them, Kudirat Ometere Muhammed, a graduate of Educational Management at the University of Ilorin, Kwara State who recently passed out of the National Youth Service Corps, in Ibadan, Oyo State was able to combine her compulsory assignments with tending to her baby, while also nurturing her flair for fashion and modelling.

She speaks with WO about her experiences, challenges.

Nobody cared

“It was not easy but I just had to do it. At some point, I had to move to Ibadan because it was quite a distance from the Primary Place of Assignment, PPA.

“I gave birth at my parents’ house. I observed my maternity leave for three months but I was still going to the Local Government to do my thumbprint so that I could be paid.

“I was too weak. I was always trekking to the local government. Other corps members did not care about my condition.

“I had to go through all the exercises others go through. There was a time my Local Government Inspector, LGI, came for inspection but he did not find me at work. I tried to explain to him about my condition but he was not convinced. I was given a query.

“He said he was not concerned about my condition and that I should keep working. He then warned that I should be ready for whatever discipline that would be meted to me.

“I kept begging him and thank God that later, he was able to help. What I realised was that nobody was ready to help anyone who was in such a condition.”

Another challenge for Kudirat was that, anytime she went for her child’s immunization, she also had to go to work because nobody was ready to listen to her.

There was no time to stay at home, nobody seemed to care that she had a baby.

No certificate

“All their thoughts were why I got pregnant when I knew I was going for NYSC. It was stressful and I cannot advise anyone to go through such conditions.

“I am yet to receive my certificate because of the maternity leave I was given.  I was given a 21 working-day extension. I am waiting for my certificate.

“Honestly, I never stopped going in-between the three months from my workplace to the Local Government.”

Different states, different strokes

“Some of the female corps members were pregnant at that time. We were not from the same state.

“Initially, I was posted to Delta State but was redeployed to Oyo State. I thought my husband would secure an accommodation in Ibadan. Due to the nature of his work, he was transferred to Ibadan.

“Some of the pregnant corps members did not encounter what I encountered.  I was learning fashion design but I had to suspend it because of my condition.  I thought people would be considerate.

“I was happy at first until I got to NYSC camp. I had an issue with the change of environment and was hospitalised.

“My expectation was cut short when I got to Ibadan. It was a painful experience.”

Her mother-in-law took care of the baby for months before relocating to Lagos, and then Kudirat began shuttling between Lagos and Ibadan every week.

NYSC Management, take note!

“I cannot say because my situation was like that, everybody would be like that. I had a friend who said she did not go through the stress. She was given special care. She was only going for her thumbprint and once in a while visited her PPA.

“Anyone who finds herself in this kind of condition should be strong. I was aggressive because of my condition.

“For NYSC management, I would say, they should enact some rules that would favour female pregnant corps members.

“They should be considerate when it comes to pregnant women, and nursing mothers.”

Source: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2023/03/service-year-stressful-for-pregnant-women-nursing-mothers-nysc-member/