Why Nigeria still needs NYSC
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- Category: Comments
- Written by Umaru Yahaya Abubakar
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Brigadier General Tsiga who is the current Director General of the scheme, was reported to have, on several occasions, warned about the negative consequence of scrapping the scheme. He portrayed it as the only institution that has been in existence for the past 37 years supplying manpower to critical public service institutions such as schools, hospitals and other sectors of the economy. He described the NYSC as the surest means of harmonizing the nation’s youths.
The debate is seemingly aided with some level of responsibility in some quarters while in others, it provides a convenient excuse for mischief makers to launch a personal attack on the directorate and its leadership in spite of the obvious achievements recorded in the two years they steered the ship of the scheme.
Understandably, in Nigeria, it is easy to attack well articulated programmes or Chief Executives that have distinguished themselves just because of the side of the country they come from or didn’t come from, or to attack because one thought he should be the one occupying that position. In fact, an important national matter could be condemned simply because an individual or group of persons do not like the face of the other, else, how could one dare call for scraping of a scheme like the NYSC?
Only few weeks back, the country witnessed a great assistance offered the country to achieve a milestone in its democratic process, if not for anything, the NYSC provided about 75 percent of the required manpower for the 2011 general elections and their participation resulted in the enthronement of elections that has been nationally and internationally acknowledged to be better than the previous ones conducted in the country.
This is in addition to educating our children and providing relatively free education and health care services to the vast majority of our rural populace who may otherwise have no access to those critical services due to dearth of manpower in our public institutions and other related encumbrances.
The performance of corps members was much attested to by the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega himself in a letter to the DG which he said among other things that “history will bear witness that your unyielding commitment to the survival of our democracy inspired the zeal of corps members who on their part defied purveyors of violence to render selfless service to our country as INEC ad-hoc staff to the very end of electoral process”.
Indeed, challenges like accommodation, security and welfare of corps members, that have for long remained a central issue to the survival of the scheme, are not far from being insurmountable looking at the tours to state governors initiated by the DG which culminated in an increase in the number of states building corpers’ lodges and orientation camps in the country today.
Of course, security as everyone could say; is a collective responsibility of all, particularly the communities being served in this case. Issues of corps members’ welfare and allowances are put in the front burner because they require recommendations. The situation is encouraging especially as many states have pledged to make local increment while the FG considers an equivalence of an N18000 minimum national wage. It certainly requires a dogged fighter at the helm of affairs to put those issues at the front burner.
Essentially, the NYSC is central to the socio economic and to a very large extent, political development of Nigeria. It provides the platform upon which youths who are beacon of our society, are trained. In the last 36 years or so of its existence, the NYSC has undergone varied transformation and understandably, has been subjected to critical analysis by the general public.
But regardless of one’s point of view, the one year mandatory service has been and will most certainly continue to serve as a source of training for the youth, fresh from ivory towers. As an agency saddled with the responsibility of preparing the Nigerian youth for the onerous task of nation building, the NYSC deserves quality leadership because it is central to our growth and survival.
With all due respect to the previous effort made by his predecessors, Tsiga has unarguably proven to be the best NYSC DG; he is a regular face in most NYSC orientation camps, coming down to the level of the corps members to appreciate their needs and sharing with them in their moment of difficulties. He has always been willing to offer them a fatherly help, this has helped him understand the system better. The scheme should be allowed to exist and run itself in the successful manner it was going. After all, even the DG himself has supposedly known very well that he is not there to stay and history will always vindicate a person’s action or inaction over the task he was given to serve his country.
Of most significance, apart from the relevance of the NYSC scheme which made it the only national institution with meaningful presence in all the 774 local governments in the country; beyond this manpower provision are its contribution to the unity and integration of the country through labour mobility, inter-marriages and cross cultural/ethnic interaction that cannot be under estimated.
Abubakar wrote from Katsina Central Primary School, Katsina.
Articles
Why Nigeria still needs NYSC
Category: Comments Written by Umaru Yahaya Abubakar Hits: 1240
The National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) scheme has of recent been put in the defensive about the desirability or otherwise of sustaining the scheme which is designed to afford the young graduates the opportunity to serve in communities other than theirs. This is with a view to giving them the opportunity of knowing the other parts of Nigeria as citizens. The idea of establishing the scheme was borne out of the damage done to the country following the effect of the civil war, hence the need to reconcile and heal the wounds inflicted by the civil war with the aim of keeping the country as a united corporate entity.Brigadier General Tsiga who is the current Director General of the scheme, was reported to have, on several occasions, warned about the negative consequence of scrapping the scheme. He portrayed it as the only institution that has been in existence for the past 37 years supplying manpower to critical public service institutions such as schools, hospitals and other sectors of the economy. He described the NYSC as the surest means of harmonizing the nation’s youths.
The debate is seemingly aided with some level of responsibility in some quarters while in others, it provides a convenient excuse for mischief makers to launch a personal attack on the directorate and its leadership in spite of the obvious achievements recorded in the two years they steered the ship of the scheme.
Understandably, in Nigeria, it is easy to attack well articulated programmes or Chief Executives that have distinguished themselves just because of the side of the country they come from or didn’t come from, or to attack because one thought he should be the one occupying that position. In fact, an important national matter could be condemned simply because an individual or group of persons do not like the face of the other, else, how could one dare call for scraping of a scheme like the NYSC?
Only few weeks back, the country witnessed a great assistance offered the country to achieve a milestone in its democratic process, if not for anything, the NYSC provided about 75 percent of the required manpower for the 2011 general elections and their participation resulted in the enthronement of elections that has been nationally and internationally acknowledged to be better than the previous ones conducted in the country.
This is in addition to educating our children and providing relatively free education and health care services to the vast majority of our rural populace who may otherwise have no access to those critical services due to dearth of manpower in our public institutions and other related encumbrances.
The performance of corps members was much attested to by the INEC Chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega himself in a letter to the DG which he said among other things that “history will bear witness that your unyielding commitment to the survival of our democracy inspired the zeal of corps members who on their part defied purveyors of violence to render selfless service to our country as INEC ad-hoc staff to the very end of electoral process”.
Indeed, challenges like accommodation, security and welfare of corps members, that have for long remained a central issue to the survival of the scheme, are not far from being insurmountable looking at the tours to state governors initiated by the DG which culminated in an increase in the number of states building corpers’ lodges and orientation camps in the country today.
Of course, security as everyone could say; is a collective responsibility of all, particularly the communities being served in this case. Issues of corps members’ welfare and allowances are put in the front burner because they require recommendations. The situation is encouraging especially as many states have pledged to make local increment while the FG considers an equivalence of an N18000 minimum national wage. It certainly requires a dogged fighter at the helm of affairs to put those issues at the front burner.
Essentially, the NYSC is central to the socio economic and to a very large extent, political development of Nigeria. It provides the platform upon which youths who are beacon of our society, are trained. In the last 36 years or so of its existence, the NYSC has undergone varied transformation and understandably, has been subjected to critical analysis by the general public.
But regardless of one’s point of view, the one year mandatory service has been and will most certainly continue to serve as a source of training for the youth, fresh from ivory towers. As an agency saddled with the responsibility of preparing the Nigerian youth for the onerous task of nation building, the NYSC deserves quality leadership because it is central to our growth and survival.
With all due respect to the previous effort made by his predecessors, Tsiga has unarguably proven to be the best NYSC DG; he is a regular face in most NYSC orientation camps, coming down to the level of the corps members to appreciate their needs and sharing with them in their moment of difficulties. He has always been willing to offer them a fatherly help, this has helped him understand the system better. The scheme should be allowed to exist and run itself in the successful manner it was going. After all, even the DG himself has supposedly known very well that he is not there to stay and history will always vindicate a person’s action or inaction over the task he was given to serve his country.
Of most significance, apart from the relevance of the NYSC scheme which made it the only national institution with meaningful presence in all the 774 local governments in the country; beyond this manpower provision are its contribution to the unity and integration of the country through labour mobility, inter-marriages and cross cultural/ethnic interaction that cannot be under estimated.
Abubakar wrote from Katsina Central Primary School, Katsina.