THE aim of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the vision behind its establishment is, no doubt, to unite the political nomenclature called Nigeria which is made up of diverse people of different cultures and orientation, which, perhaps, are the dictates of the circumstances into which they were born. After the civil war, the Youth Service scheme came into being with this well known noble objective of forging understanding among our various peoples. And fair enough it, in no small measure, changed the basic orientation of the post-war Nigeria of 'be on your own and stay in your region'. The Northerners can move freely to the South to serve and even settle there, same with the Southerners, Easterners and the Westerners. The scheme was truly an instrument of instilling the spirit of brotherliness among Nigerians.Today, the NYSC scheme is bedeviled with series of problems. The problems are such that most parents and students are in tandem that the nation should do away with the scheme.Ordinarily, when you visit any of the universities and polytechnics, you would see the zeal, the spirit and the burning desire of final-year students to get done with their examinations and proceed to serve, albeit for some, to gain experience. This joy and longing soon suffer discouragement with postings of the students. Friends find that they are separated, and scattered to different places. Influence peddling in postings is another cause of dispiritedness. Speculation is rife that about 80 per cent of corps members serving in Lagos and Abuja may have been there not by accident. Insignificant and unnecessary as this may sound, it triggers suspicion and resentment not only against the favoured students but the entire polity and the country. We should be worried that such bottled resentment will go without negative consequences for the nation.In the past, corpers could be seen carrying out specific projects and activities happily to develop new communities. This is the joy of being a member of the scheme. Today, the Community Development Service and the meeting grounds of the corps members are nothing more than 'gist joints.' 'Projects' are carried out not with any enthusiasm but only for the purpose of getting clearance for the monthly allowance.The economic implication of the NYSC cannot be over emphasized. The scheme in recent times has turned to cheap labour for employers. Corps members do the work of full-time staff only to be rewarded with frustrating stipends. The employers no longer deem it necessary to hire regular staffers because youth corps members can always be requested to fill the gap. Of course, it should go without saying that the service provides a good opportunity for learning, especially for professionals such as lawyers and doctors. Even then it should be born in mind that motivation increases productivity and engenders psychological balance of the individual.I believe that laudable as it may be on the surface, the recent resolution to post corps members to agricultural, health and education sectors only is laughable on careful consideration. Several questions which arise are whether it is only the government owned schools, hospitals and farms to which corps members will be posted' Which subject would a lawyer corps member teach in a school' Sadly, this was implemented with the last two batches of the NYSC. The recent WAEC and NECO examination results should be instructive pointers to the fact that the education sector is in an abysmal state and what pupils require is professional teaching. It will require a miracle for pupils to pass standard examinations when they are denied the privilege of professional teaching. Most teachers in public schools now only gather to gist or relax in staff rooms since it is given that the 'corper' would definitely be in the class. Private schools in their own case are in the habit of not employing enough teachers for the same reason that corps members are available year in and out.Should we then leave the schools and post the corps members to the agricultural sector only' Where are the farm settlements to take in the quarterly tens of thousands of graduates mobilized for the scheme' The recent insecurity situation in some of the Northern states and the debate of whether or not to post corps members to volatile states has also sent a bad signal to the continuing existence of the scheme.It will be hasty to conclude that our youths waste one full year of their lives after school or to advocate strictly the scraping of the scheme. However, some recommendations may be necessary to put the scheme back on track. The first is that professionals should be posted to areas of their specialisation and if sent to the private sector, it should be on the condition that they will be well treated. The scheme will need to clean itself of partisanship in the posting exercises. Also, any state with the slightest security challenge should be ruled out of consideration for youth corpers for as long as the challenges persist. Only educationists should be posted to schools and they should be thoroughly supervised by the head teachers. Education ministries should be more vigilant and should in turn supervise the schools very well. In the event the foregoing recommendations are impossible and there are no other viable means of tackling the issues, then the scheme will need to be laid to rest and the federal government would need to empower willing graduates to start small scale businesses.Chester Chika Odagwe is a legal practitioner and wrote from Ogun State.
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