Follow Us on Google
The Federal Government has approved a new policy, which makes the submission of students’ theses and final year projects into the Nigeria Education Repository and Databank (NERD) compulsory for mobilisation into the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. President Bola Tinubu had invoked provisions in Sections 2(4)(4) and 16(1)(C) of the NYSC Act, and approved the new policy. The new policy was contained in a circular signed by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume.
The policy also states that effective from October 6, no Nigerian graduate, whether from a Nigerian university, polytechnic, college of education or a foreign institution will henceforth be mobilised for or exempted from the NYSC without proof of NERD compliance. Section 6.1.23 of the NERD guidelines, the new policy will serve ‘as a quality assurance check and as a yearly independent proof of continuous academic enrolment and affiliation.’ The spokesman of NERD, Haula Galadima, also explained the measure will ‘raise the bar in the quality of academic content, output and presentation nationwide.’
We believe that the new NYSC mobilisation policy is part of the government’s initiative to uphold quality assurance and keep a record of all graduates and their theses or final year projects for future reference and research. The policy will also enable the government and the academic community to keep a record of all Nigerian graduates, their year of graduation, the title of their thesis or final year projects and the lecturers who supervised them. It will solve the problem of recycled projects because no project will be uploaded twice and ensure academic integrity.
In spite of the envisaged benefits of the new NYSC mobilisation policy, we urge the government to consult further with major stakeholders in the tertiary education sector to avoid unnecessary duplication of policies. The government can still achieve the aims of the new policy without tying it to NYSC mobilisation. NERD and the universities and other affected higher institutions can work out plans on how to share this information, which is in their databank already. The government should spare prospective corps members the ordeal of uploading their theses an final year projects in NERD databank considering our poor network systems. The government should not create another avenue for malfeasance for unscrupulous NERD officials before prospective corps members could upload their theses or final year projects. There are many problems facing the smooth operation of NYSC which the government should address forthwith. This uploading of theses or projects is hardly one of the challenges facing the scheme. There are thousands of varsity graduates still waiting for NYSC mobilisation months and even years after graduation. Yet, the government intends to further delay them with uploading of theses and final year projects.
Considering the large number of graduates from Nigerian universities, polytechnics and colleges of education and their counterparts from foreign countries, the sustainability of this policy is doubtful. NERD officials may find it extremely difficult to cope with the volume of work the new policy will entail. Implementation fatigue may trail the policy. We believe that details of theses or final year projects of students are uploaded in the functional repository of each university or tertiary institution. NERD can liaise with the universities to obtain the information instead of tying it to NYSC mobilisation. The databank can serve as part of the criteria for annual appraisal and ratings of universities across the country.
The NERD data bank should be reserved exclusively for archival national resources for research. To encumber it with the theses of graduating students across the country will detract from its main focus. The government should task the universities to make their repositories functional. Such repositories should also contain the publications of all lecturers teaching in that institution. In developed countries, every university has a rich repository of the theses of their graduates. Nigerian universities can replicate it without dragging NERD and NYSC mobilization into the mix.
The NYSC scheme was established by Gen. Yakubu Gowon (rtd) in 1973 to assist in the reconstruction, reconciliation, and rebuilding of the country after the Nigerian civil war of 1967-1970. The objectives of NYSC are ‘to instill discipline, patriotism, and self-reliance in Nigerian youths, foster national unity and understanding across diverse ethnic groups, and promote national development through skilled human resources and community service.’ It also aims to encourage shared experiences among youths and raise their moral and social standards, making them amenable to contributing to the nation’s progress.’
Whether the NYSC has achieved its objectives or not is debatable. The NYSC may soon lose its relevance if prospective corps members are not timely mobilised for service after graduation as it used to be. This issue of having arrears of unmobilised corps members is a disservice to the lofty scheme. The time has, indeed, come for a review of the scheme considering rising security challenges across the country and the inability of NYSC to cope with increasing number of graduates.
