After seven grueling years (instead of five, time was prolonged due to lecturer labor unrest) of college/university education as a pioneering student at Lautech, it is exactly 22 years ago that I was deployed to serve the fatherland in Cross Rivers' state at the Obubura NYSC camp. It was a mixed experience of being swamped by multiple of mosquitos at the camp, to almost drowning on River Cross in a canoe on my way to my primary place of assignment - a village called Abijang after Ikom near Republic of Cameroon border, and that of friendship with fellow Nigerians from across every corner of the nation and locals in the surrounding villages where I was to serve. The relevance of NYSC has been argued over the years. It seems the program has outlived its usefulness without any reform since its inception in 1973. We are as divided today as we were 46 years ago. NYSC program was supposed to foster unity, development and nation building. Instead NYSC has been used as a ...