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The rejection by federal ministries and agencies of youth corps members posted to them for their one year national service indicates that the 32-year old National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme is due for urgent evaluation.
The rejection by federal ministries and agencies of youth corps members posted to them for their one year national service indicates that the 32-year old National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme is due for urgent evaluation. Reports have it that corps members recently deployed in Abuja were largely rejected and were roaming the streets of the city searching for where to do the compulsory one-year national service.
The NYSC Director-General, Brig-Gen. Yusuf Bomoi, on his part, has warned that the mass rejection by employers compromises the scheme's objectives. According to him, such employers hide under the cloak of lack of vacancies, non-requirement of the discipline, and lack of accommodation or funds to cater for corps' welfare, to shut their doors against members of the scheme. Although the NYSC statute does not sanction employers for rejecting corps members, Bomoi quoted a 1998 official circular prohibiting rejection. Such employers, he said, could be blacklisted. Indeed, some banks and oil companies were blacklisted two years ago, for generally using graduate corps members as errand and tea boys and girls.
The menial jobs notwithstanding, the generous monetary allowances offered by banks and oil firms attracted corps members. Though only an insignificant few got permanent job placement after the one-year service, the NYSC had to contend with the official graft that followed the intense lobbying for bank and oil sector postings. Two years after, the NYSC authorities have reversed the ban on banks and oil firms.
With the overwhelming number of NYSC participants in the face of a stagnant economy, the rejection by private sector employers was understandable, over the years. But the rejection by the public sector, including Federal Government agencies and ministries, may sound the death knell of the scheme. The uncooperative attitude of state governments is also capable of derailing the programme. At least 31 states have defaulted in paying the N500,000 yearly statutory subvention to cater for corps members' welfare. Up to 14 states have failed to put in place orientation camps, while 22 other states need to rehabilitate their dilapidated camps.
The pervasive rejection of corps members signals that the scheme is in distress. Shortly after the 30-month civil war (1967-70), General Yakubu Gowon conceived the NYSC scheme as a unifying instrument to heal war wounds. The underlying premise was that ignorance of other ethnic groups' way of life caused violent misunderstanding. Educated youths were considered more effective ambassadors to understudy other cultures and correct erroneous stereotypes. Therefore, corps members were posted to serve in states other than theirs.
Sadly, the goal of national integration was largely defeated from the outset by some states that preferred to hire foreigners than retain corp members after the one-year service. The goal to develop members' skills for self-employment has also not been vigorously pursued. Worse still, the declining quality of higher education, over the years, has made graduates a liability to potential employers. In effect, the NYSC, today, is a mockery of what the founding fathers envisaged.
The scheme, therefore, needs a comprehensive review so that corps members could be deployed to achieve specific national tasks in education, public health and other urgent social services. With paid employment showing no signs of looking up, the scheme should now emphasize the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills for self-employment. Similarly, tertiary institutions have to review study curricula to produce employable graduates.
A situation where educated youths, trained at huge expense, are forced to serve the nation and dumped to face harsh labour market should be reversed. State and local governments should put their graduates on some minimum monthly allowances, in addition to designing effective ways to use their skills and talents for development purposes.
The PUNCH, Thursday, June 23, 2005