BOYS SCOUT: The neglected voluntary organization in Nigeria.
Since the inception of the boys scouts in 1908 by lord Baden Powell, most of the countries of the world that embraced it have found the organization so useful in nation building especially in the discharge of civic responsibilities.
Before I took voluntary organization as a topic in social studies in secondary school, I have already had little idea of boys scouts operations, we had one scout group in Iyale in late 80's. In Iyale, immediately after dawn, we would be awaken by the activities of the boys scouts of Iyale who jogged up and down for their morning drills and exercise. They chorused gleefully with their parade chants which serenade the children like the sweet music of the lovers. We would rushed out of the house to watch their performance, we shivered with our teeth grating from the severe cold of Iyale harmattan.
We watched the scouts singing merrily with pleasant smiles on their face performing energy exhausting drills like the real military in a serene beautiful uniform of green upon brown trousers meticulously laced with neckerchief.
The Iyale Scouter's team of those days consisted of Friday Ogwu Okpanachi
Mr Joel Echiye( Fab Echiye)
Mr Aya (Remind me of the rest).These names remain permanently engraved in gold in my heart especially Mr Friday Ogwu Okpanachi, The scout commandant.
Boys scouts of Iyale was not different from the military in activities and operations. They used military codes and terminologies to express consent and dissent. They used slangs and jargons that people could not decipher. They send signals of impending danger with their codes. For instance, the scouters can spell my name as thus:
J.....Juliet
I.......India
B.......Bravo
R........Romeo
I..........India
L..........Lima
N........November
D.........Delta
A.........Alpha
H.........Hotel
They sang to re energise themselves and send boredom and idleness on permanent errand. You would hear
Scout O Kim Kim!
E waa!
Scout O Kim Kim!
E waa!
Scout weee!
Waaa!
Do, do, do as I do....don't worry!
Do, do, do as I do.... Don't worry.
Boys scouts play vital roles in maintaining peace and unity as enshrined in their scout law no 2 "scout is loyal to the King and the country". They cling to this law in patriotic steadfastness, they don't give up on their country of origin. They demonstrate total commitment to be useful to others as a call to serve in a motto " Be always prepared "
In an unrest situation like riots, protest and demonstration such as we witnessed about a month ago in #ENDSARS#, boys scouts play vital role in peace keeping by mounting resistance to uprising in a meek and submissive manner.
A planned protest should engage the service of voluntary organizations like boys scouts and Red cross society to prevent escalation as we witnessed in ENDSARS/ LEKKI saga.
First, the presence of the voluntary organizations always prevent the military from unleashing weapons on the Protesters.
Secondly, the boys scouts act as mediator between aggrieved parties during agitations, they convey grievances of both parties to their opponent as part of their training. They gather info from the camp of the enemies even in war situations through which conflicts and disagreement can be resolved by shelving discords and mischiefs
Boys scouts are familiar with crisis situations due to their continuous training in camping and retreat programs.
In political rallies, weddings and other social events, scouts are always involved in an unparalleled intoxicated patriotism(no be small grammar😂😂) and loyalty to bring orderliness and to make the atmosphere Serene and peaceful. They don't belong to political parties, they work without attaching sentiments and emotions to their jobs.
No calm moments for the Kimbos, always wearing an alert gaits like the military, patiently obeying all the instructions from the superiors. They hold on to scout law like demigods.
Scouting program is very vital in the life of young adults, it disengages children from idleness, drugs, and other social vices to be responsible citizens. During recruitment exercise into military and paramilitary, scouters who are interested are always considered first before others because they are well informed and familiar with military etiquettes. Most of my Iyale siblings who embraced scouts in the late 80's are today officers of military and paramilitary organizations.
Despite these huge roles the scouts played, Nigeria has not explored their services effectively in nation building.
Nigeria embraced the scouting program in 1915 by lord Lugard at about 8years after its official kick off in the great Britain. We later became a common wealth member of scouting countries in 1961 and since then the scouting program has always been treated with negligence, no support from the government and the organization is dying down on daily basis.
This is a call to stakeholders and government to switch to action to revitalize the Boys scouts in Nigeria.
Kim Jibril An advocate of voluntary organizations from Gwagwalada
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