Youth
ESTABLISHED on May 22, 1973 by Decree No. 24 three years after a the Nigeria civil war, the National Youth Service Corps’ (NYSC) mission is to mobilize and groom youths for the promotion of national unity, sustainable development and self-reliance.
It also strives to prepare them for the challenges of leadership.
Its main operational thrust s to post tertiary institution graduates under the age of 30 to environments outside their comfort zones with a view to changing their cultural perceptions and orientations.
Five decades down the line, the compulsory one-year the scheme which was created by the then Head of State, retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon, has generated lots of debates.
Nigerians ask: To what extent has it promoted socio-cultural integration and helped to heal the wounds of the civil war by changing the mindset of young people from diverse cultural background? Has it overstayed its welcome? In a nutshell, has it achieved its aim?
From a scheme which mobilised few of thousands of young people for service once a year, NYSC programme has grown to become more complex in operations, mobilising thousands in multiple batches annually.
At its inception in 1973/1974 session, it mobilised 2,364 corps members. By 2022, the figure has risen astronomically to 303,416 young men and women.
One of the opponents of the scheme, Nigeria Rebirth Movement said it had become obsolete and caused the death of many young people.
In a statement signed by its President, Musbau Temitope, the Nigeria Rebirth Movement said it came to this conclusion after an analysis of the activity of the scheme.
“We continue to lose future leaders on the road after toiling to secure a tertiary certificate.”
“It’s surprising as over the years, the NYSC programme has since been abused by the management as it has turned to the opposite of what it’s created for”,Temitope said.
Awaji-Inimbek Abiante (PDP, Rivers) introduced a bill to the House of Representatives seeking to amend the 1999 Constitution and scrap the scheme. Specifically, he wanted the repeal of Section 315 (5a) of the 1999 Constitution and the NYSC Act.
He argued in part that:“after several decades, the programme has failed to address the essence of its establishment, while several reform efforts have also not yielded desired results.
“But it has continued to be a drain on our scarce resources and exposing families to several nightmares and even loss of loved ones after so much investment.”
The NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed, thinks otherwise.
He said the scheme has not only met the expectations of its founding fathers but has gone a notch higher to equip the youths with necessary skills to be self-reliant and employers of labour.
He spoke at an interactive session with the media to commence the 50th anniversary celebration of the scheme.
“Corps doctors and other medical personnel have been using the platform of the Community Development Service to carry out medical outreaches in various communities.
“In infrastructural development, through the platform of the scheme’s Community Development Service (CDS), corps members have contributed to the construction or rehabilitation of school structures, health facilities, water boreholes, culverts and roads.
“However, one of the most outstanding initiatives of the scheme is the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED), a programme introduced in 2012 as a deliberate step to complement government’s effort to curb youth unemployment.”
“The SAED programme is designed to equip corps members with vocational skills while also developing their entrepreneurial capacities for self-employment and wealth creation”, he said.
He explained that the corps members were trained in skills as agro-allied; food preservation and processing; cosmetology; Information and Communication Technology; environment; beautification; construction; film and photography; and automobile technology, among others.
Ahmed admits that the scheme has some difficulties to grapple with which includes providing security for corps members in the face of the security challenges in various parts of the nation.
Being one of the major sources of personnel during national assignments such as election and population census, corps members have been attacked in the line duty and in extreme cases, such attacks are fatal.
The man under whose regime the scheme was set has also defended it saying its success story of NYSC 50 far outweighs its setbacks.
He spoke at the inauguration of the NYSC Information Communication Technology (ICT) building at the NYSC headquarters in Abuja, as part of the scheme’s 50th anniversary celebrations
“It has become necessary to reiterate the fact that the establishment of NYSC was one of the most far reaching decisions we took while in office.
“All these achievements have also attracted commendations from both local and the international communities”, he said.
For Prof. Attahiru Jega, former INEC Chairman in lecture entitled: “NYSC @ 50: X-raying Africa’s Leading Light in Youth Mobilisation for National Development” said “while we celebrate and commemorate five decades of the NYSC, we need to do sober reflections to address pertinent questions.
“For example, to what extent has the NYSC achieved all the objectives for which it was established? With what impact and consequences? What have been the achievements, the constraints, and the future prospects?”
According to him NYSC has the prospect of playing a greater role in the affairs of the country even in decades to come.
But to successfulyl play such a role, he said, the challenges facing the scheme should be addressed.
“Specifically, government should substantially increase the funding provisions, ensure security of corps members in their areas of deployment, and motivate staff administering the scheme.
“Or, in the alternative trim down number of participants by making the scheme voluntary, rather than mandatory, with high CGPA as prequalification for participation.
“The global best practices are that compulsory or mandatory national services are of a military/national defence nature.
“Otherwise, national service should be voluntary, with carefully defined qualifications, which help to limit the number of participants for a well-structured and impactful service”, he said.
Reacting to Jega’s suggestion, the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Mr Adeleke Lawal, it should maintain the status quo as a mandatory service to the nation.
This, he says is because it serves as a bridge between the youthful life of a student and that of a worker which then propels them to adulthood.
“There is no doubt that the scheme is working, it provides cohesion and contributes to the unity of Nigeria”, he said.
In spite of its shortcoming, the scheme has received endorsement from the Sultan of Sokoto, Sa’ad Abubakar.
“I heard there are some people calling for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme; I assure you that those behind that struggle do not mean well for this country,” the Sultan told some corps members who had visited him in his palace. (NANFeatures)
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Tags: Brig.-Gen. Yusha’u Ahmed Musbau Temitope National Youth Service Corps’ (NYSC) NYSC Director-General retired Gen. Yakubu Gowon
