‘Young Nigerians Should Learn To Volunteer Instead Of Complaining, Blaming Government’

‘Young Nigerians Should Learn To Volunteer Instead Of Complaining, Blaming Government’

Lucia Balonwu is the country Director of Voluntary Service Oversea (VSO). In this interview with SOYINGBE ANTHONIA and ELIAS ADAGUNDURO on the 2017 International Volunteers Day, shed lights on activities of the organisation and why Nigerian youths should volunteer. He also appreciated volunteers that have one time volunteered with VSO but not currently on placement, advising them not to stop volunteering in solving problems in their communities.

 VSO is celebrating volunteers and appreciating them on the International Volunteers Day, a day set aside by the United Nation. In what areas can young people volunteer?

Voluntary Service Oversea is an organisation that works with volunteers as its main model of delivering development outcomes. The volunteers do the work on the ground while VSO staffs oversee their activities.

Are the Volunteers paid?

The volunteers are not paid, VSO only takes care of their subsistence which include the meal and transportation expenses.

How long has the organisation existed?

The organisation had been since independence, 1958 precisely and they have worked in three areas since inception. In Livelihood, improving people’s livelihood, Health and Education. They have worked across Marginalised groups; women, young ones, elderly, disabled, and with people in far reached communities by the government.

Despite all the awareness that women should wake from their slumber and do the needful in the society, why are women still where they are?

It is important to state that why women are where they are presently, women are not where they used to be.  Nigerian women now have opportunities to take the lead, they are in position of authority and those that are not in position of authority now have a voice. We are doing all we can with the support of VSO to ensure aforementioned marginalised groups actually have a voice and able to speak on matters that concern them.

Bringing the youths together is not easy if money is not involved. Was it easy for VSO to bring these young people to volunteer actively in community development services from different states in Nigeria?

I will give credit to the International Citizen Service program (ICS) organised by VSO. It was conceived as a way of bringing young people from the age of 18 to 25 from the UK pairing them with Nigerians to work in Nigerian communities.

The excitement that comes from seeing a comfortable young British citizen cleaning Nigerian gutters, eat eba and sleeping in the same room with Nigerians has made it easy for young people to volunteer in these areas instead of blaming the government and being indifferent. If a young and comfortable British guy can stay for three months under an epileptic power supply in rural villages in Nigeria, it implies young Nigerians privileged to be paired with the UK youths should be inspired to do same instead of complaining.  The mindset has changed.

How many communities is the ICS program being implemented?

At every time in a year we have three locations, the British young people come in three times. We have worked in Osun State, Kwali Abuja, Kwara, OkeOde, Cross River in the past. We have been going to different locations but we do a security analysis to ensure the security situation allows foreigners to live in those communities for three months. Because we do the security analysis frequently, locations keep changing. We ensure they are needy communities, hard to reach by government lacking social amenities. A place where volunteers can actually make a change. Rural community dwellers are the primary actors she emphasised.

What are some of the challenges bedeviling the ICS program and volunteers since its inception?

Some of them are policy and environmental wise, like I mentioned previously security. Sometimes when there are security challenges, we promptly change locations and adapt to it and also the issue of immigration and registration and getting paper work from government. This happens periodically especially because by the nature of the program we are having a large number of foreigners and they are coming so frequently. So we have little challenges like that but the enthusiasm and the energy of the young people more than make up for all of this. We expect challenges but we keep surmounting them with their help.