Major General Edet Adam Akpan, the fourth Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and former Director of the Nigerian Army Education Corps, passed away on May 15, 2020. He was 79.
General Akpan was an incredibly nice, personable, and distinguished army general. He was also a gentleman of outstanding qualities. A leader, who has set free his spirit of love, honour, and compassion for his fellow human beings to share and behold, he earned his enviable reputation as a true patriot.
In Nigeria’s military, where Gen. Akpan had an outstanding professional career, he rose to the enviable position of Director, Army Education Corps. But, it was at the NYSC, where he was the Chief Executive between 1984-1987, that General Akpanimpacted a generation of young men and women.
Through his skills and youth-oriented policy, he opened up new vistas for corps members to pursue their dreams. In 1984, Gen. Akpan brought into NYSC a crack team of professionals to redesign the scheme’s Community Development Service (CDS) as an all-year-round program. The primary objective was to broaden opportunities to make a fundamental difference in the lives of the participants of the scheme. The program recognized corps members’ skills and talents. It also made them aware of their beneficial value, and that the nation was appreciative of their loyalty and commitment to national service.
To mainstream NYSC into the nation’s consciousness, General Akpan approved two publications, entitled, The Theory and Science of Community Development Service (CDS) and The NYSC Project Document. The aim was to create an awareness of the ideals of national youth service among corps members, who, oblivious of the imperative of selfless service to the nation, were swayed away in different directions in pursuit of preferential postings to white-collar jobs. A portrait of future and endless possibilities, the Science of CDS and NYSC Project Document, in the words of Alec Dickson, persuaded corps members that: “A sense of common citizenship must transcend tribal and family loyalties, and that there is as much opportunity for social service in the new towns as there is for community service in the rural areas.”
While it took a long while to get the Corps Members to buy into the new direction and repudiate their craving for white collar jobs, General Akpan nonetheless seized on the opportunity to carry forward his re-orientation programme. Among other measures, orientation camp lectures were used to reinforce lessons on such values as ‘dignity in all labour’ and ‘the need to use what you have to get what you want’ within the primary goal of the NYSC. Corps members were encouraged to leave the communities where they served in better shape than they met them. What looked like a jigsaw puzzle quickly fell into place, and the achievement of the stated mission and aims became obvious.
Corps members took to the new CDS, which was now to run on an all-year-round basis. Corps Members also took to inventions and fabrications in fulfilment of their community development responsibilities and in support of their host communities and activities of felt needs. Among other examples,
• Corps members formed the entire teaching staff of many schools in the hinterland and, as part of their CDS, also organized and held extramural classes to prepare their students for external examinations
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• Corps Members also undertook urban beautification schemes, mounted important historic statues and public signages, and introduced basic programs to promote community hygiene
• Corps engineers and architects designed and built bridges and linked kith and kin previously separated for generations.
In addition, the NYSC under General Akpan established farms in all states of the federation. The aim was not only to grow crops profitably and demonstrate to corps members, who at the time had a bias towards white collar job, that agriculture was a viable alternative, but also to serve as practical examples to the rural farmers on the comparative advantages of modern-day agricultural practices and the need for them to embrace them. The NYSC farms cultivated arable crops such as rice, cassava and maize, commercial crops such as sun flower, soya-bean and oil palm. Soon the programme was extended to include poultry and animal husbandry.
Furthermore, the NYSC established processing plants like the Feed Mill in Ipaja, Lagos State; Oil Mill at Iwok, Akwa Ibom State and Rice Mill in Enugu, Enugu State. These were established for the purpose of adding value to the farm produce as well as expanding the agricultural value chain. The NYSC Farms became quite popular especially during The President’s Honors Award Ceremony when the best of the Community Development Service achievements was displayed. One of the high points was during General Muhammadu Buhari’s tenure as military head of state, when government had cause to prepare a supplementary budget for the NYSC Farms after viewing the exhibition of its produce.
The NYSC Farms program was designed to make long term impact on the lives of corps members by enhancing their skills and increase employment opportunities for them after their service year. In agriculture, some state governments responded as willing partners. Lagos State, for example, offered ten hectares of land to Corps Members who shunned white collar jobs in pursuit of agriculture as a means of livelihood.
Under the NYSC Year-Round-Community Service, leisure time activities flourished in corps members places of primary assignment. The NYSC nation-wide Drama Competition as well as NYSC Sports Competition, though limited to corps members, generated healthy interactions in host communities. The fierce competition which ensued resonated well with the competitive nature of the corps members. Evidence abounds that many of the famous Nollywood actresses and actors cut their teeth in the NYSC Drama competition.
The story was also similar for sports where corps members competed in volleyball and football. The best corps soccer players were drafted to the NYSC football team which competed in the Fourth Division of the Football League.
Steven Ehoda Aldi, a Benue State indigene, who became a Director at the NYSC Directorate Headquarters, Abuja, was one of the thousands of graduates of higher institutions to benefit from a one-year practical learning under Gen. Akpan’s Year-Round-Community Service. A young man with an incredible knack for knowledge, Ehoda-Aldi served in 1984 as a corps member at the experimental NYSC-YRCDS Rice Farm at Ikpe Ikot Nkon, Ikono Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria. Says Mr. Ehoda-Aldi, one of thousands of ex-corps members and officials, who bemoaned Gen. Akpan’s passing: “He re-aligned the administration of the scheme away from staff on secondment to NYSC having its own permanent staff.”
“He was not distracted,” writes Ehoda-Aldi in a text message he shared upon his learning of the passing of General Akpan. “He had his eyes set on clearly defined objectives,” the ex-corps member recalled in obvious reference to the experience he once described as transformative during General Akpan’s years at NYSC.
Others, including close acquaintances and professional colleagues of General Akpan, recall a man whose sterling qualities included an impulsive yet measured generosity to the less privileged. A brilliant and articulate leader, he rebranded the NYSC and piloted it through a challenging period of time following the financial scandal that he inherited. By so doing, he re-established public confidence in the once nationally revered scheme, a demonstration of his clear understanding of the issues that faced NYSC.
Today, the noise about corruption has spilled over into the social media: lots of noise, we dare say. But as we look back, today, from the days of General Akpan as the Director-General of NYSC, we see an outstanding soldier, whose policies transformed the NYSC. He focused on discouraging corrupt practices, promoting probity and accountability. Not done, he changed the image of the NYSC from that of broken frames and edifices of disrepute into a national monument of unmatched accomplishments. He did so without a bullet, or illegal or sponsored detention of suspects. The reconstituted frames of administrative justice changed the national psychic or attitude about NYSC nationally and internationally.
The news of a reformed NYSC was noted by youth development authorities in the Koreas, Ethiopia, Kenya and Tanzania, where organised youth service is considered as an integral part of national development. The ensuing euphoria and a new vision of what our educated youths could achieve through the NYSC quickly spread across the length and breadth of Nigeria. It also birthed the concept of NYSC “ambassadors,” an ideal which came up in official discussions in other African countries with similar national youth service programme.
A true leader who understood his mission on earth, General Akpan was also a great father and mentor, whose work ethic inspired accountability among his staff members. He held us accountable for the consequences of our individual and collective actions. He left us with no options but to accept full responsibility for our actions.
What we write about our General are statements about our true experiences, and meant to demonstrate our utmost respect, gratitude and admiration for the beloved General Akpan, who lived and practiced selfless love, while serving God and mankind. Every one whose life he touched became relevant and accomplished. Why?Because, “Ete,” as he was fondly addressed, seamlessly gave every one of us the sterling opportunity to develop all that is best in us, while transforming each and every one of us from an ordinary to extraordinary person.
Our hearts go out to the family, who will miss a kind and devoted father, whose brilliance and humble personality touched so many individuals. We also mourn with his family the loss of this illustrious and accomplished son of Akwa Ibom and national leader, to whom many across the length and breadth of Nigeria are indebted. We had the unique opportunity of working closely with him. He was generous and incredibly warm and kind.
Easy going and soft-spoken General Akpan spoke with candour and glaring authority. He invariably walked with the ease of a man confident in himself and his abilities. Although a man of an average stature, he came across as a towering figure, whose endearing poise and dignity were never in doubt. He was held in awe by admirers and treated with reverence and abiding loyalty by friends. His network of acquaintances, business, and political contacts cuts across ethnic lines, a fact readily admitted by his detractors. General Akpan was so confident of his capabilities in getting the work done. He loved to share ideas and surrounded himself with those who took the initiative to run with his vision.
An ordained Elder of the Quo Iboe Church, Gen. Akpan was an old boy of EtinanInstitute, Etinan; the University of Ibadan (UI), Ibadan and Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, Kaduna State.
May God grant his soul eternal rest!
• Essien lives in Queens, New York; Umoh in Albany, New York (USA) and Etokowoh in Uyo, Nigeria