NYSC And The Lost Heritage

                             NYSC And Its Lost Heritage

 In the month of May of 1973 when the military administration of General Yakubu Gowon enacted decree 24 which gave birth to NYSC in Nigeria "with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity" as part of the 3R programmes aftermath the civil war, it truly gained momentum and performed notable functions of its course. And it did encourage unity among the youth graduates of the of the six universities in the country then. It created opportunities for the tens of thousands graduates in the nation.
 And with decree No.51 of of June 16th 1993,it purposes were well spelt out as follows "To inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves. To raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement To develop in the Nigerian youths the attitudes of mind, acquired through shared experience and suitable training. which will make them more amenable to mobilisation in the national interest To enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment To contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy To develop common ties among.. ... .........  That members of the service corps are encouraged to seek at the end of their one year national service, career employment all over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labour That employers are induced partly through their experience with members of the service corps to employ more readily and on a permanent basis, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin" Wikipedia

  By and large, the scheme achieved its aims in the early years of its foundation. But prior to democracy, it has only turned to an illusion. The discipline it aimed to instilled into Nigerian youths has gradually lose its feet to become a way of making them suffer and paradoxically to prepare them for the worse condition they will find themselves after the service.



  Unfortunately NYSC has lost his fame for many reasons as follows: The poor conduct of the military and paramilitary men attached to various camps in all the 36 states of the federation. The authority given to these officers in the recent years has turned autonomous that they have forgotten their main purpose of guiding and training the corpers. They have become notorious for disregarding the civil right of these youths, we can't turn our deaf ears to how our dear youths are being maltreated in the camp in the name of "serving their father land". The ruthless manner by which they give our youths unbearable experience cannot be overemphasized not even in respect of their health. The death of Miss Ifedolapo Amoke Oladapo in Kano orientation camp out of negligence is still fresh in our mind. Her parents will never see happiness each time they see a Nigerian youth in that NYSC khaki all in the name of serving their nation.The hardcore training they force our youths to go through are nothing but threat to their health. And perhaps the government is 'killing' their muscles so they won't have enough energy left to fight for their right after the service, to play a pun

 On the second hand, the programme is nothing but a waste of their precious time. We have to realise the fact that Nigeria has outgrown the uncivilized status its portrayed in the early years after independence. NYSC has no effect on unity no more in the fact that the increase in numbers of institutions in the country has welcomed students from different parts of the country to study in any of their choice of institutions irrespective of location or ethnicity with less favouritism only on the policy of catchment area. Our graduates has spent four years or more relating with their brothers from different parts of the country so why the need for nysc anymore?  More importantly, NYSC has lost is importance in terms of priorities, attaching a graduate of civil engineering to a pry school is nothing but a way of wasting a precious twelve months of such a graduate. If the government can't provide opportunities for all corpers to work in an organization in their area of concentration, then it is of no value. The service year ought to be an opportunity for corpers to have a year of practical experience in their line of specialization. It's  sad when I see corpers teaching in schools where they are posted to, not only because these corpers are being forced to do what they don't have passion for but also because it is a way of debasing our education system which is lacking standard. For instance, when you ask someone who graduated from the faculty of medicine to teach biology, first, such person never had background knowledge of teacher's education, secondly he is unlikely to have passion for teaching, all these coupled with the poor learning condition of our classroom, will offer nothing but negativity to the standard of education in the country.
   However, I wouldn't drop my pen until the inadequacy of the #19,800 allowance is revealed. The government proposed #1,500 for feeding on daily basis for these corp members in their twenty one days in camp. Arithmetically that amount to #31,500 at the end of the twenty one days, meaning that the #19,800 is not even enough for the twenty one days with a shortage of about #12,000 not mentioning the fact that price of goods are increasing as naria continue to lose its value. After the camping, there is 30days in a month and dividing it out of #19,800,that is an average of #660 per day.How do you expect a grown up youth to find end means to #660 daily out of which he will feed and spend money on transportation and other things? That is excluding cost of accommodation, that is if they get it for free which is in most cases not  so.


Apparently, it's obvious that NYSC scheme has lost is ground and has only being of negative impact in the lives of youth in the immediate past years and it's of foreboding significance in the years to come. Therefore I suggest the scrapping of NYSC or better still, its mode of operation and purpose of existence should be redressed.

God bless Nigeria!!!
Soneye Abdul-Azeez Lekan