BEFORE WE DISMEMBER NYSC

MONDAY PHILIPS EKPE writes that Nigeria’s national youth service needs well-considered reforms, not capricious changes

Federal Government’s recent pronouncement of its plan to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has generated mixed reactions, understandably. The decision is not surprising, coming from an administration that loves to be seen as reform-minded. On a good day, attempts at introducing changes, especially result-oriented ones, are progressive and should be supported by those who care for advancement. But these are unusual times. Nigerians have had to live more with flamboyant rhetoric and serially broken promises than actual desirable deliverables.

Scepticism about government’s intentions and capacity to transform the NYSC into a more actualised programme has, therefore, come to me naturally, like countless other compatriots. For one, the youth scheme is too important to be sent to a surgical ward after what seems to be the government waking up from the wrong side of the bed. Some sort of a fire-brigade operation. In coming up with this bogus idea only less than one year to the end of its term in office, President Bola Tinubu’s government has acted like some of its predecessors. Presidents and governors assume power and start conducting the affairs of state as if their re-election is a given. Soon, “Four Plus Four; Go on Straight; No shaking” billboards will spring up nationwide.

It’s certain that Tinubu and his team are not ready for any meaningful shot at transforming this enduring, impactful national institution that has existed for 53 years. Even without the whistle, politicking has begun in the race towards next year’s general election. Politics has since taken the front seat. And good governance – that dream of lovers of democracy – is jaundiced. So, initiating such a momentous exercise at this time is, at best, insincere.

Nothing demonstrates the low quality of thought invested in this idea than the Freudian slip of the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, the other day when he excitedly informed his audience of the plan to replace the corps’ khaki dressing with “adire”, a fabric designed and used mostly by people from the western part of the country. Of course, a nation already divided along ethnic, regional and religious lines has no difficulty in rising against the very concept. Although the minister later tried to correct himself, the message had already gone out to the agitated public that the move to reform the national service might be another wild imagination which, if not properly interrogated, could scale through our weak legislative processes and become law. Not being alarmist here. We haven’t forgotten. Changing the country’s national anthem to the old one once existed mainly in the mind of President Tinubu. But in a matter of hours, it was railroaded through the National Assembly successfully.

This new attempt needn’t suffer the same fate. When General Yakubu Gowon’s regime conceived the NYSC three years after the Nigerian Civil War, it was aimed at fostering unity, integration and cohesion. It was meant to further the cause of the then Federal Military Government’s post-war programme of Reconciliation, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction. Young men and women, fresh from tertiary academic institutions, would be ready tools in facilitating the healing of a severely traumatised and brutalised nation. That was the starting point and, somehow, even with the hurdles the service has encountered, it has also recorded remarkable wins down the years at both individual and group levels.

Many marriages owe their origins to NYSC. Lasting friendships too. People have relocated to areas they never thought of before their national assignments. Better appreciation of other people’s cultures in numerous instances is also traceable to the one-year experience. Prejudices have fallen off some persons who had held them closely like badges. Much needed community development projects have been embarked upon by energetic, purposeful corps members, many times with minimal external assistance. And many other pluses.

Some of the experiences I had inside the Orientation Camp of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) at the Federal College of Education in Pankshin, Plateau State and my primary assignment have remained fresh nearly four decades after. They have strengthened my faith in it. Camping then lasted about eight weeks and the monthly “allowee” was N200/250. While at the camp, rain fell substantially and intermittently and even obstructed some of the activities.

One day, a simple but instructive incident occurred. In a gathering of about seven, one corps member from the western part of the country exclaimed, “Ha! rain de fall for north?” (Does rain fall in the north?). What happened next looked choreographed. One by one, everyone walked away from the young man who had only expressed his surprise. Difficult to say exactly what that snub did to him. But he was clearly a victim of stark ignorance and myopic views about his own country. For a graduate who ought to know at least a bit better, that wasn’t funny.

Yet another episode opened me up to the layers of prejudices that had, and still have unfortunately, mentally enslaved Nigerians to the detriment of mutual respect and national harmony. A colleague from the south visited the camp clinic. He needed solution for his chest pain. By his personal account to me, he couldn’t get them from the two youth corps doctors whom he first approached. Eventually, it was a graduate of University of Maiduguri, a northerner, who attended to him satisfactorily. For him, that encounter was a critical learning curve, a game-changer.

The benefits derivable from the scheme are indeed priceless and shouldn’t be toyed with. It’s welcoming that the government is not warming up to scrap it. The official statement on the rationale for the announced intent to tinker with the service reads in part: “The issue of safety of corps members, infrastructural deficits, and the broader question about the relevance of the scheme in an increasingly dynamic socio-economic landscape are some of the challenges faced. But these also present opportunities that demand urgent, visionary, and determined action.”

That action shouldn’t include cosmetic modifications. The present uniforms are good enough, only, perhaps, need quality enhancement. Graduation being proposed to take the place of passing out is clearly misplaced. Because of the absence of paramilitary training in most of our higher learning citadels, more spaces should be created for it, especially considering our security predicament at the moment. And no rush to civilianise the programme in the name of democratising it, please!

Any innovation that would be injected into the NYSC now requires tact and diligence and should focus on the present crop of graduates. Born into the internet/social media world, most of them are frustrated by the recklessness and lack of vision of today’s leaders. Many of them believe that education is a scam. The prospects truly appear bleak, sadly. And their demography is massive. For such a strategic establishment, whimsical foundational or structural operations would be truly tragic. 

Dr Ekpe is a member of THISDAY Editorial Board

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