By Philip Agbese
After 50 years of its establishment, enduring a journey built on great heroes’ legacies for its continuity, Nigerians are now disenchanted with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Completing a year of service with the NYSC is mandated by Nigerian law, and thus made a necessity, except based on a permissible exemption. The aim is to foster inter-communal unity and peace. In exchange, the corps members receive a monthly stipend from the government.
Throughout the years, the program has garnered substantial opprobrium, encountering a considerable proportion of controversies, inadequate financial support, aggression directed toward participants, and the profound administrative ineptitude that permeates Nigeria’s governmental apparatus.
Could this be also likened to a case of “a soiled white garment” or that of unmasking a wolf that has long thrived in its stolen sheep apparel?
What exactly is wrong with the NYSC scheme?
Indubitably, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has undergone significant distortion beyond its initial conception, and prevailing circumstances encompassing financial support, participant volume, and pertinence necessitate a profound reassessment.
A perfunctory examination of the rationale behind the implementation of the scheme uncovers a program that was instituted to foster national cohesion and tackle the issue of discord. Therefore, NYSC was established to facilitate the appropriate enlivenment and progression of communal bonds among the adolescent populace of Nigeria, as well as the advancement of national harmony.
Consequently, one of the principal objectives of the scheme is chiefly to instill in Nigerian youths the ethos of altruistic dedication to society, and to accentuate the essence of unity and camaraderie among all Nigerians, irrespective of their cultural or societal origins. Unfortunately, a long-focused scheme like the NYSC could be found wrapped in cases like alleged conspiracy, deceit, political witch-hunting, and misrepresentation of facts, which is a result of the infiltration of rotten eggs in its leadership.
Therefore, from the above observation, we can easily conclude that this is definitely a case of a soiled white garment and a case of a weak building on a strong foundation. If so, one would need to wash it off and destroy the weak one, to pave the way for a strong edifice.
Solution? A holistic review of the NYSC, and her leadership.
Amidst Nigeria’s mounting insecurity and the inclination of a substantial portion of the country’s leadership to espouse ethnicity at the expense of unity, the Scheme has forfeited its allure. The NYSC leadership has been more focused on securing budgetary allocation than implementing the cause of allocation.
As sojourns across the nation have grown fraught with peril, numerous graduates assigned to the scheme resort to navigating its progressively venal placement system in pursuit of advantageous postings or embark on journeys laden with grave hazards to their very lives.
There have been reports of members challenging the long wait for their allowances and the hardship they are undergoing in their respective places of primary assignment, but the NYSC leaders go all out into enriching and fattening their purses, forgetting the after-effects of the negligence of Copers safety within and outside camp.
They handle the implementation and operationalization of the scheme with mediocrity. For a fact, NYSC is a laudable scheme that is only falling victim to the Nigerian character of social and collective negligence, institutionalised corruption, and lack of foresight.
It is shameful news to read about the incapability, and unprofessionalism of the NYSC DG, Brig Gen YD Ahmed. It hurts to believe that the respected leadership of the NYSC lack astute knowledge in resolving a small “Fake NYSC Certificate”, but had to be unraveled by the Department of State Services (DSS) discrete investigation, exposing the hasty investigative false conclusion done by the NYSC. The reoccurrence of such incidents has placed NYSC in a position of being an accomplice to such vices.
If a lion has to teach a fish how to swim, what need is that fish’s existence in the water?
If mediocrity is exemplified in a position of professionalism, then of what value is such personality? If a leader isn’t up to his leadership task, he is not worthy to occupy the position, else, he would remain a ticking time bomb that would cause a sudden mass destruction to the organization.
Bearing these heartrending developments in mind, it would appear that despite its many promises thrown to Nigerians, there have been continual failures.
The president needs to execute a complete overhauling of the NYSC scheme and its Leadership. A probe and auditing of their financial report should be implemented with immediate effect. If they are found wanting in the investigation of their mode of operation, it is very unfortunate to say that, “ the scheme should finally be euthanized.”
An operation that has outlived its usefulness needs to be put to rest for a new one to take over. An organization that has failed in its designated focus, goals, and mandate should be discontinued.
Our youths need to be entrusted into safe hands, and not those that serve as another quick path into the afterlife. The cry of the lost and their loved ones can still be heard on the sacred altar day and night. It has remained a bitter memory to those family that has lost their loved ones in this NYSC Journey.
This is a call to the government to act fast and speedily. This should rather be seen as a call for a better Nigeria, a call for new ideas, a call for establishment and schemes, and a call for a “greater all”.
Agbese is a member of the House of Representatives writing from Abuja.