Some Nigerians youth advocates have disagreed with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s much-talked-about reforms of the National Youth Service Corps.
The president and secretary of a youths’ coalition, Abdulrahman Sani and Grace Nwafor, made this known view in a statement on Sunday.
Recall President Tinubu had announced NYSC reforms for the first time since their establishment in 1973.
The reforms are expected to introduce civilian leadership rather than military with a three-phase orientation camp.
However, the youths led by Sani and Nwafor have championed a call for the government to retain the current NYSC leadership structure.
They warned that stripping the scheme of its traditional structure could weaken one of Nigeria’s most enduring instruments for national unity, discipline, and emergency service.
The youths argued that the reforms should not alter the identity of an institution that has served the country for over five decades.
“We sincerely beg him to pause this process and allow broader stakeholder engagement before any irreversible decision is taken.
“It would be unfortunate if the NYSC gradually loses its identity and becomes known merely as another government skills acquisition program. Skills are important, but they are not the reason the scheme was created. Its greatest achievement has been bringing young Nigerians together across ethnic, religious, and regional divides at a time when our country desperately needed healing.
“Across the world, countries such as Singapore, South Korea, Israel and Switzerland continue to expose their young citizens to structured national or military service because they understand that national development depends not only on knowledge but also on discipline, sacrifice and civic responsibility. Nigeria should strengthen that tradition rather than weaken it.
“When COVID-19 placed enormous pressure on our healthcare system, it was not only permanent government workers who answered the call. Hundreds of NYSC doctors, nurses, pharmacists and laboratory scientists stood on the frontlines in isolation centres and public hospitals across the country. During elections, disease outbreaks and humanitarian emergencies, corps members have repeatedly proven that the NYSC is a national emergency asset, not just a youth programme.”
They dismissed suggestions that the reforms were introducing digital innovation into the scheme, noting that mobilisation, deployment, documentation and records management have already been substantially automated.
“It is difficult to present digitalisation as a new reform when the NYSC has, for years, operated one of the most advanced digital administrative systems in the public service. The bigger challenge is funding. Give the scheme adequate resources, modern facilities and stronger welfare, and it will continue to deliver even greater value to Nigeria.”
The youths urged the national assembly to subject any amendment to the NYSC Act to extensive public hearings, insisting that reforms affecting generations of Nigerian youths should reflect the views of those who have built, managed and benefited from the scheme over the decades.