By Ajibola Olaide, JKNewsMedia Reporter
FORMER SPEAKER of the Kwara State House of Assembly, Professor Ali Ahmad, has slammed the relocation of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp from Yikpata in Edu Local Government Area to Ilorin, describing the decision as a “national disgrace” and evidence of what he called a collapse of governance in the state.
The NYSC had announced on Thursday that the camp was being moved to Kwara State Polytechnic following escalating insecurity in Kwara North.
The State Coordinator, Onifade Olaoluwa Joshua, said the decision was approved by the government to safeguard corps members after repeated bandit attacks in Edu and Patigi local government areas.
Reacting in Ilorin, Ahmad said the relocation was “a loud and painful admission that Kwara can no longer guarantee safety for its citizens, let alone for the young Nigerians posted here for service.”
He recalled that for more than four decades the Yikpata camp had hosted thousands of corps members, which he described as “a proud symbol of national unity, sacrifice and patriotism.”
According to him, moving the exercise to Ilorin meant that Kwara under Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq had “surrendered this national heritage.”
“To admit that corps members cannot be secured in our state is to confess the total collapse of governance. This retreat is not just shameful—it is humiliating,” Ahmad said.
He also criticised the state government’s handling of insecurity more broadly, including the closure of Kara markets across Kwara South.
Ahmad argued that the markets were vital to local farmers, traders and transporters, and said shutting them down had worsened economic hardship.
“Farmers are watching their produce rot because there is no market to sell. Traders are sinking into debt. Transporters sit idle, their vehicles parked.
“Families cry at night as hunger tightens its grip. This is not a security policy; this is cruelty wrapped in cowardice,” he said.
Ahmad accused the AbdulRazaq administration of abandoning citizens in their “moment of greatest need” and insisted that insecurity should be fought “with courage, intelligence and investment in the people.”
“Kwara is bleeding. Our youth are endangered. Our farmers are broken. Our traders are hopeless. Yet those entrusted with leadership walk as if nothing is wrong. This indifference is not just incompetence—it is betrayal,” he said.
The former Speaker maintained that history would remember the current period not for bold action but for what he called Kwara’s “surrender to fear.”
