Opinions
NYSC: To stay or be scrapped?
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I am African.
I am a Nigerian. My country operates democracy, or democratic government, it is “a system of government in which all the people of a state or polity … are involved in making decisions about its affairs, typically by voting to elect representatives to a parliament or similar assembly,” as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary.
In our local parlance, we say it is government of the people, by the people and for the people.
But the funny thing about our kind of government is the fact that we literally operate an autocratic kind of government mixed with gerontocracy yet fused with a bit of democracy that favours a group of persons whom I’d call the Elite Nigerians – the rich and influential.
In order to run the government of any country, different schemes would be implemented and put in place, one of such schemes is the National Youth Service Sheme (NYSC).
In 1973, General Yakubu Gowon thought it wise to initiate this scheme. ‘The NYSC scheme was created in a bid to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian Civil war. The unfortunate antecedents in our national history gave impetus to the establishment of the National Youth Service Corps by decree No.24 of 22nd May 1973 which stated that the NYSC is being established “with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity” .
Having the above in mind, one who has taken a critical look at the state of the scheme in recent years will come to a conclusion that the scheme is now a far cry from its intial plan and will not be wrong to advocate that the scheme should either be SCRAPPED or REFURBISHED.
I served my nation in 2014 and had great expectations when the call up letters were given. I was among the few who allowed the scheme to take its cause and post me to any state of their choosing. I was posted to Ekiti State, a Western State in the Federation of Nigeria.
The Orientation Camp as its called was slightly fun but somewhat disorganised.
I feel some of the camp activities were irrelevant to the life of a Nigerian graduate who upon graduation is looking forward to getting a job and securing a good life.
The morning drills, the Man O’war drills, the endurance trek, the camp fire nights, and a host of other activities would have a whole lot of sense if it gave campers a glimpse of what life away from the three weeks camp would be like.
These orientation camps didn’t in a anyway prepare one for the excruciating time in some of the PPAs. (Place Of Primary Assignment).
Though people met with other people from other schools and states but three weeks spent in camp was a hogwash to me.
If the time in camp was concentrated on tutoring Corps Member on what to expect in the remaining nine (9) or ten (10) months outside the orientation camps, it would have been waaaaaaay better
And oh, did I tell you about the dilapidated and unsafe structures in some camps?
Did I also mention the poor feeding meted out to adults, I mean matured adults ooo
(shakes head in shame and smirks ).
A part of the orientation course that kinda annoyed me was SAED (skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development ).
The long hours we had to sit in some of the lectures that were as boooooooring as what i can’t explain.
The short time they expected a person to grasp a new skill that they might mot be ablebto harness or develop after camp because of the locations that some Corps Members were posted to.
How in our FIRST DEGREE certificate’s name are we expected to understand that we just graduated from tertiary institutions where we spent so much money on tuition, text books, hand outs, assignment and other payments yet we need to develop a SKILL.
I ask,
WHY AREN’T THESE SKILLS INCORPORATED INTO THE SCHOOL SYLLABUS OR CURRICULUM, TO GIVE INDIVIDUALS AMPLE TIME TO LEARN THEM AND EVEN PUT THEM TO PRACTISE?
WHY DO THEY KEEP DRUMMING IT INTO THE EARS OF CORPS MEMBERS THAT THERE ARE NOT WHITE COLLAR JOBS, yet they earn a living with their own white collar jobs?
Enough of the camp rants
Let’s take a trip down memory lane to the PPAs, where :
some corps members are either under payed or not even paid at all yet they are used as slaves just because a PROPRIETOR or OFFICE OWNER must be impressed or the PAYMENT VOUCHER will not be signed.
or
the compulsory allocation of subjects to corps members to teach, yet these subjects are not their disciplines.
or
the forceful compulsion with which an Engineering student who isn’t trained in Education is forced into a classroom to teach children we call our future generation, forgetting that we can’t give what we don’t have.
Well, you might try to justify your actions but thay doesn’t make it right.
And or, is the NYSC board aware that some schools where corps members are posted to rely solely on corps members with the presence of few or no permanent teachers, where does that leave these gullible children who are being taught by different temporary teachers or corps members (pardon my oversight ).
Why are corps members pushed to their early death when forced to serve as INEC adhoc staff during elections?
More death of corps members during election have been recorded, as against road or domestic accidents on transit to or fro their place of postings.
Painful but it is true.
The system has sinced derailed from its initial initiative, thus should either be scrapped or refurbished.
I rest my case.
By Maureen Alikor


www.fornigerians.com/2016/03/29/nysc-to-stay-or-be-scrapped/

cc. lalasticlala

I don't know about being scrapped but it should be made optional. That's all

You nailed it here man! NYSC is doing more harms than good to us. Who says it helps to unite us? Most of ma friends in sch are from other tribes so it's not only NYSC that does dat. The 3weeks I spent in camp, I count it as a waste cos apart from d football tournament, every other activities re useless to me even d mr Mancho or miss nysc waheva is a waste of time cos it involved u bribing d officials. My ppa is d most useless sch in abeokuta! So useless that it does not appreciate us but rada treat us like we re begging. The director is very self centred and is still owing us d small 5k wey him promise us per month 4 2 months now and yet be threatning us wif quarry if we try to rest. The so called LI too re just running after lady corpers and not working at all. The most annoying thing is everybody believes this #19,800 is like 1m. They so depend on it like u can't make more dan that a month wifout NYSC. I bet I can. NYSC to me should be scrapped.

I go wit dayowunmi. It shouldn't be scrapped but be made optional. I will prefer that.

Did not read.

Ok, if there's any policy nairaland should stand out for this is the one I pray for the most. Gather up to a thousand or more followers from here, facebook, twitter and the many blogs that litter Nigerian cyberspace. Get the address of the NYSC headquarters in Abuja then tell everyone to mail one letter a week with reasons listed why NYSC should get scrapped. Do this for at least three months and see whether it wouldn't get reported through media outlets that the scheme gets unceremoniously discontinued. To me, its a way better course of action than venting every other day on nairaland that the scheme has no meaning.

charix:
Did not read.

Ok, if there's any policy nairaland should stand out for this is the one I pray for the most. Gather up to a thousand or more followers from here, facebook, twitter and the many blogs that litter Nigerian cyberspace. Get the address of the NYSC headquarters in Abuja then tell everyone to mail one letter a week with reasons listed why NYSC should get scrapped. Do this for at least three months and see whether it wouldn't get reported through media outlets that the scheme gets unceremoniously discontinued. To me, its a way better course of action than venting every other day on nairaland that the scheme has no meaning.

Let's see how this goes then...