NYSC: Time for a rethink

It was that this youthful and zealous desire to join the NYSC was coming at a time when some are calling for the scrapping of the scheme whether informed or otherwise. It is amazing. It’s like these younger Nigerian who participate in the NYSC have some more intrinsic estimation of the scheme than we cynical […]

It was that this youthful and zealous desire to join the NYSC was coming at a time when some are calling for the scrapping of the scheme whether informed or otherwise. It is amazing. It’s like these younger Nigerian who participate in the NYSC have some more intrinsic estimation of the scheme than we cynical older generation. One would ordinarily  have expected that if everything is as bad in the NYSC as many would want us to believe, the excluded youths should have been saying  “ good riddance to bad rubbish” as against the love song they sang at the scheme “ gate that day Albert with a desirable aggression.

It is no wonder that the Honourable Minister of Youth Development Senator Akinlabi Olasunkani, did not allow the opportunity to recruit more participation into the 36 years old corps slip by. Recently, while inaugurating the boards of the NYSC and Citizen and Leadership Training Centre, the Minister formally announced the comeback of the Monotechnic graduates into the one year mandatory service scheme.

One cannot stop wondering too that when some are asking for the scheme to be axed, many organizations, both national and international, are angling to partner with it. These organizations seem to have discovered the very strong and viable presence of the NYSC members at the grassroots levels of our economy and are cashing in on it to drive their goals.

Perhaps the protesting monotechnic students have realized the evident opportunities for personal development offered by the foregoing corps member- driven collaboration and would not want to miss out forever in these golden chances.

When I look back at 1983 and 1984 when my generation served, the allowance we received and other hard circumstance of those days, it becomes increasingly clear that some of our reason for asking for the head of the NYSC were unfair considering the tremendous contribution of the scheme. Then, none of the camps were permanent and were crammed into secondary schools and other makeshift camps. Even the issue of security of corps members has been hyped out of context. But rather than calling for the sack of the NYSC, we should seriously call to question the bestial and primordial instinct that makes a group of people slaughter their fellow countrymen like rams. Until we address and arrest these bases sentiments we can scrap the NYSC but the senseless wasting of our youngest and brightest will continue. If you ask me, I think that rather than weaken, such incident serve to strengthen the reason why the scheme should be sustained, enhanced and further empowered to continue to execute its mandate. The NYSC was indeed conceived to eradicate such hatred and blood- thirsty inclination from our socio political landscape especially after the regrettable civil war. If today we still harbour traces of those primordial attitudes, then the enduring usefulness of the NYSC should be encourage and not vilified.

But one area that calls for serious attention is the wellbeing of the corps members themselves who are the agent of the vital development we have been seen so far. Government should expedite action on the enhancement of their monthly stipends popularly called allowee. If the utterance of the Director General of the NYSC, Brig. Gen Maharazu Tsiga, and the youth development Minister, Senator Akinlabi  Olasunkami are anything to go by, the corps members will soon smile. However, the apathy of the most states and local government to their lawful responsibilities to the scheme leaves a sad taste in the month. Out of 37 states, including the FCT, only about 10 have what one can call a befitting orientation camp for corps members.

Nevertheless, the federal government may have to take some drastic measures to wake up the states and local government to their duties to the scheme. Government may consider direct deductions from states allocations for NYSC orientation camp development for example. There is an urgent need for sanctions for states, local government and other employers who fail to live up to their corps members’ welfare and other expectations. There is need for the NYSC itself to resuscitate some motivation projects for states, local governments, individuals and organization that have shown exemplary support to the scheme over the years. We all must come to one reality and this has been eloquently demonstrated by the protest of the monotechnic students. Scrapping the NYSC is no longer a popular song — empowering the NYSC to serve Nigeria better should be the new lyrics.

Alao can be reached at [email protected]