Time To Review NYSC Scheme

Certainly, the idea to set up the National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme by Yakubu Gowon’s administration in 1973 was most noble. After the Civil War, there was need to foster unity among the various ethnic groups in the country, and the need to reconstruct and rebuild the country. NYSC was considered as a viable means of promoting cross-cultural exchanges and interaction.

Over the years, the scheme has helped in building a strong tie between different ethnic groups in Nigeria as young graduates are posted to states other than their states of origin to serve their fatherland for a period of one year. Within this period, they interact with members of their host communities, learn their culture and also help in developing these communities.

Members of these communities on the other hand, take the corps members as their own. They welcome, protect and assist them wherever necessary.

However, recent happenings in the country have led to the question of whether or not the scheme is still relevant.

Records have it that several corps members had lost their lives in some crisis-prone states.

It is still fresh in our memories how about 42 corps members were butchered in some Northern states in connection with the April 2011 general elections.

Youth corps members serving as adhoc Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) staff were at the INEC office in Suleja, Niger State on April 8, this year, to check their postings for election duties when a bomb blast there killed 11 people instantly, while about 28 others were injured.

In Bauchi, many corps members were killed and some others attacked by hoodlums in riots that followed the April 16, 2011, presidential elections.

The sectarian attacks in Jos, Plateau State and others had claimed the lives of many corps members.

As the Islamic terrorist sect, Boko Haram carries out its activities unabated especially in the North-Eastern states, lives of the residents continue to be in danger. Their clandestine mode of operation seems to be overwhelming the Nigerian security agencies who are not even spared.

The sect had claimed responsibility for the killing of the low and the mighty. They had rendered many people homeless, made many children orphans and many women widows.

What then is the guarantee that they will spare the youth corps members, custodians of the western education which they detest so much?

In view of the growing insecurity situation in the country, there is need to review the scheme as the objectives that necessitated the establishment of the NYSC programme seem to have been defeated.

According to the Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, “the scheme put in place to foster unity and develop common ties among the nation’s youths has turned into an avenue for the slaughtering of innocent citizens. The government would no longer fold its arm and watch innocent citizens sent to their early graves by unscrupulous elements while serving their fatherland. Of what gain is it when a child is killed in national service when the parents must have spent so much training him or her from primary school to the university?.

Indeed, why should NYSC scheme and the Federal Government insist on corps members being posted to the violence – prone states when people who live there are fleeing? Why should our promising young ones be forced to risk their lives in service to a nation that wouldn’t even protect them?

I think, the Federal Government should be more proactive towards ensuring peace in the country. They should see that the activities of Boko Haram are brought under control so as to make the states conducive for all.

Safety of corps members and the entire citizenry should indeed be of utmost importance to  the country. No doubt, national integration is one of the motives of the scheme, but for this to be achieved, corps members need to be assured of their safety. They have to be alive to achieve the unity of the nation.

In the face of the security challenges, the NYSC Director-General and other heads of the scheme should seek the support of security agencies to provide adequate security for the corps members.

Most importantly, the scheme should consider the request made by some concerned Nigerians especially parents and corps members that corps members should no longer be posted to volatile areas. A recurring view that corps members should serve in their geo-political zones should also be considered.

Although, security agencies in the country claim to be on top of the ugly situation, it is important that the posting of corps members to the volatile states in the North remain suspended until the poor security situation improves.

Calista Ezeaku