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Like any other intervention initiative, scheme or programme, 50 years of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) provides a veritable opportunity to appraise its implementation and determine its continued existence, modification, or outright scrapping. The scheme was launched in 1973 by the Gen. Yakubu Gowon military regime to instill unity among Nigerians at the end of hostilities occasioned by the brutal Nigeria/Biafra war of 1967-1970. There is no doubt that Gowon’s administration meant well in establishing the quasi-military scheme to enable young Nigerian university graduates to understand the country’s people, history, culture and geography. At inception, the scheme was open to university, polytechnic and college of education graduates not above 30 years. That is those graduates with BA/BSc, HND and NCE were mobilized for the scheme. Prospective corps members were posted to states other than their state of origin.
The orientation involved military drills and citizenship training and lectures on Nigerian peoples and cultures. Later, entrepreneurship training was added to the training manual. After the one month orientation exercise, they were posted to places of primary assignment based on qualification. Medical doctors were posted to hospitals and other health facilities, engineers were posted to ministry of works and construction firms, teachers were posted to schools. Some corps members were posted to universities, polytechnics and colleges of education as well. Initially, graduates of universities and polytechnics were paid N200 monthly stipend, while those from colleges of education were paid N160. Following complaints by NCE graduates over discriminatory allowance paid to them for doing the same service, graduates of colleges of education, that is NCE holders, were dropped from the scheme after the 1984/85 service year so that only graduates with university degrees and HND were mobilized for the one year mandatory service.
The scheme enabled some Nigerian young graduates to live among other Nigerians from other tribes or ethnic groups. It helped to erase some prejudices and stereotypes about some sections of the country. To some extent, NYSC helped to ameliorate the effects of the war and united Nigerians. It led to some inter-ethnic marriages and cemented inter-ethnic relations. New friendships were made. New cultural bonds, fraternities and business linkages were also formed in the course of the service year and beyond. It also made Nigerian citizens to see themselves as Nigerians and not necessarily from their ethnic or religious identities. Prospective corps members were glad to do the service in any state they were posted. In the same manner, they accepted postings to their place of primary assignment with patriotism. Corps doctors, engineers, teachers and others distinguished themselves in their place of primary assignment and even won national honours in addition to automatic employment offers.
It is in teaching that the NYSC made its obvious mark. I remember being taught in secondary school by NYSC teachers, who were selfless and highly motivated for imparting knowledge. I remember those who taught us History, English, Literature in the 70s. There were corps members who taught Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Geography, Agriculture and other subjects. NYSC teachers were great mentors and role models. That was the golden era of the scheme. Like every other thing Nigerian, the NYSC after 50 years of existence is living in its past glory. In fact, the scheme is fading, dying and in need of reformation or outright scrapping. Many ills of our Nigerianness have enveloped the scheme. There is preferential posting to states and places of primary assignment. Postings to Lagos, Port Harcourt and Abuja are reserved for the children of the highly privileged Nigerians, presidents, governors, senators and other parliamentarians and men of timber and caliber.
While children of the poor have no choice of state of posting or place of primary assignment, children of the rich serve in NNPC, oil companies, NIMASA, Customs, Immigration and other juicy places. Corps members are discriminated against in terms of postings to states and place of primary assignment at times based on one’s tribe and religion. When the scheme commenced in 1973, N200 or N160 has much value. One naira was above one US dollar or may be the same. Up till 1984/85 service year, the value of the naira to the US dollar was still okay. But today, the N33,000 stipend paid to a ‘corper’ pales into insignificance when converted to the US dollar. The stipend cannot maintain a ‘corper’ in a month. Youth corps members are now used as annual teaching pool for states without adequate number of qualified teachers. That is why almost all corps members are posted to schools to teach. The irony of the whole exercise is that most of them posted to schools do not have teaching qualification. You can imagine the quality of teaching some of them will offer without adequate training and motivation.
The problem of the scheme did not start today. During the 80s, especially the period I participated in the scheme, the NYSC acronym was translated to mean Now Your Suffering Commences, an allusion to the fact that the scheme has outlived its usefulness. I served in the scheme when it was still prestigious to wear the NYSC regalia with pride. We wear it anywhere we go during the service year with much pride and patriotism. But now, the situation has dramatically changed.
When the scheme commenced in 1973, it helped to unite Nigerians, 50 years after, the unity is fast evaporating. Nigerians are more divided now than 50 years ago when Gowon launched the scheme with much ceremony. Nigerians were openly disenfranchised in Lagos and Port Harcourt during the 2023 general election based on their ethnic identities. It is more likely that our brand of politics will still divide Nigerians the more if nothing is done now to prevent sliding nationhood. The NYSC has demonstrated beyond any doubt that it is not possible to cement a nation’s unity just by mobilizing to national service unwilling youths, an insignificant number of Nigerian population yearly. The nation’s unity cannot be decreed, which is what NYSC is all about. On the contrary, the nation’s unity can only be achieved through negotiation, dialogue and consensus and never through a military fiat. Without justice, unity will continue to elude Nigeria and the people will be unwilling to work together.
Sadly, those who participated in the scheme were among those who unleashed ethnic slurs on their fellow Nigerians in Lagos during the reportedly highly flawed 2023 polls. The NYSC scheme like other intervention programmes should have an exit date. Fifty years is long enough to end it considering its weaknesses, which outweigh its strengths. It should not be interminable, especially now that it has failed to achieve the national cohesion its founders envisaged. The NYSC should not be made to be a permanent feature of Nigerian life. Like other critics of the scheme have suggested, the scheme can be made optional. The participants should be allowed to select where to serve as well as place of primary assignment. States must stop relying on NYSC for their annual teaching pool. The NYSC should not be turned into a teaching programme. Making it a teaching programmes appears exploitative, waste of skills and not altruistic. After participating in the scheme for one year, many participants end up in the job market searching for non-existent jobs. Does it make sense?
Imagine those who participated in the scheme not being able to manage our affairs as governors, senators and political office holders. Look at the rumble in the National Assembly over which zone will produce the Senate President or not. Even many of those, who participated in the scheme, would like an end to the scheme. NYSC alone will not guarantee our unity and there is no sign in sight that it is going to do so. They money used in the scheme can be used for other developmental purposes. Despite participating in the NYSC scheme, our politicians are still divisive, clannish, self-serving and unpatriotic. Having outlived its usefulness, let the scheme be scrapped.
