It is true that the National Youth Service Corps programme which started in 1973 after the long civil war was established to re-unite the nation, I think the purpose is no longer there, and the goals have been derailed, and for that, the programme needs to be revoked or totally overhauled to suit present day situation(s).
Now, here are my own reasons why the NYSC programme should be scrapped or restructured:
1. It Breaks Relationships and Marriages:
True life stories shared by many Nigerians in the past and present showed that NYSC has broken so many happy relationships and sometimes marriages.
This affects the female corps members the most, as some get so carried away by the camp activities and the one-year period of freedom away from their fiancees, which most times leads them into radical infidelity and cheating. Same to the guys.
2. Insecurity:
With rising insecurity in various part of the country- Boko Haram activities in the northern Nigeria (especially in the northeast), rising cases of ritual killings in the southwest and kidnapping cases in the southsouth and southeast, NYSC programme is no longer a safe practice considering the fact that innocent, naïve youth graduates are deployed to communities and regions they know nothing about, which increases the chances of them being hurt for the one year period.
3. Time wasting:
Nigerian students usually spend much time in school, courtesy of incessant strike by the governing bodies, adding another year or months of waiting for NYSC deployment plus another 1 year of NYSC service makes it difficult for most graduates to secure job as employers start to put age limit and restriction when recruiting for workers.
Government either need to scrap it or stop employers from putting age restriction when hiring graduates.
4. Waste of resources:
The money FG spends on NYSC orientation camping each year is enough to train Nigerian graduates on useful entrepreneurship skill acquisition that will equip graduates to become self employed, and further create more job opportunities.
5. Spread of disease:
We can't ignore the possibilities of disease spread amongst corps members during this NYSC period. From HIV to STIs and now Ebola Virus Disease. Possibility of Hepatitis B spread is also very possible.
These are just but a few of the reasons why NYSC should be scrapped or restructured to suit the today trend and need.
Suggestion on how to restructure the NYSC:
FG should make it a 6-months intensive entrepreneurship/practical skill acquisition grooming for young graduates that just graduated.
Orientation camps should be restructured to become a functional world class entrepreneurship/skill acquisition centres where corps members will be camped for the 6-month intensive training on various useful skills.
And at the end of the 6-month, NYSC will pay each passing out corps member a bulk cash to be saved from their present monthly allowance, so that they can use it to startup something based on the skill they acquired during the 6-month intensive training period.
Private sectors, NGOs and other interested organisations will be incorporated into the system as a social responsibility for operating businesses in Nigeria. That way, there will be enough fund to carry out the new NYSC task.
Now, here are my own reasons why the NYSC programme should be scrapped or restructured:
1. It Breaks Relationships and Marriages:
True life stories shared by many Nigerians in the past and present showed that NYSC has broken so many happy relationships and sometimes marriages.
This affects the female corps members the most, as some get so carried away by the camp activities and the one-year period of freedom away from their fiancees, which most times leads them into radical infidelity and cheating. Same to the guys.
2. Insecurity:
With rising insecurity in various part of the country- Boko Haram activities in the northern Nigeria (especially in the northeast), rising cases of ritual killings in the southwest and kidnapping cases in the southsouth and southeast, NYSC programme is no longer a safe practice considering the fact that innocent, naïve youth graduates are deployed to communities and regions they know nothing about, which increases the chances of them being hurt for the one year period.
3. Time wasting:
Nigerian students usually spend much time in school, courtesy of incessant strike by the governing bodies, adding another year or months of waiting for NYSC deployment plus another 1 year of NYSC service makes it difficult for most graduates to secure job as employers start to put age limit and restriction when recruiting for workers.
Government either need to scrap it or stop employers from putting age restriction when hiring graduates.
4. Waste of resources:
The money FG spends on NYSC orientation camping each year is enough to train Nigerian graduates on useful entrepreneurship skill acquisition that will equip graduates to become self employed, and further create more job opportunities.
5. Spread of disease:
We can't ignore the possibilities of disease spread amongst corps members during this NYSC period. From HIV to STIs and now Ebola Virus Disease. Possibility of Hepatitis B spread is also very possible.
These are just but a few of the reasons why NYSC should be scrapped or restructured to suit the today trend and need.
Suggestion on how to restructure the NYSC:
FG should make it a 6-months intensive entrepreneurship/practical skill acquisition grooming for young graduates that just graduated.
Orientation camps should be restructured to become a functional world class entrepreneurship/skill acquisition centres where corps members will be camped for the 6-month intensive training on various useful skills.
And at the end of the 6-month, NYSC will pay each passing out corps member a bulk cash to be saved from their present monthly allowance, so that they can use it to startup something based on the skill they acquired during the 6-month intensive training period.
Private sectors, NGOs and other interested organisations will be incorporated into the system as a social responsibility for operating businesses in Nigeria. That way, there will be enough fund to carry out the new NYSC task.
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