The frequent crisis in Jos has prompted the National Assembly to review  the postings of intending National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to troubled states of the federation. From 1999 till date, a large percentage of NYSC members had lost their precious lives to this so-called manadatory national assignment.

The purpose of setting up the National Youth Service Corps(NYSC) scheme in 1973, under the then military administration of Rt. Gen Yakubu Gowon, had been defeated in Plateau State.

The scheme has been hijacked by selfish people, whose political ambition  is to destroy human lives and nothing more;  making the scheme neither progressive nor retrogressive.

It  was meant to promote cross-fertilisation of ideas, reducing erroneous impression on tribal sentiments and religious fanatism. Nigeria is considered as heterogeneous nation with over 250 ethnic groups, 36 states and 774 local governments.  Albeit, NYSC graduates are expected to experience compulsory one-year service to be able to adapt to the current realities of life.Many NYSC members have been killed in some of these unsuspicious states , not to talk of cases of rape and kidnapping.

Most of the NYSC members have been used to rig elections  in  some states of the federation.

Graduates now have few opportunities of securing comfortable jobs in most reputable companies in Nigeria. The so-called labour market requires eight to nine years of experiences and additional entrepreneurial skills to work in  digital companies. In some states, NYSC members have provided  pet projects to ameliorate the sufferings of the people over the years. The NYSC no longer fits  the current challenges, since most of them who had concluded their youth service are now  experiencing joblessness, with some, taking to armed robbery, kidnapping, internet fraudsters,  prostitution, human trafficking, drug abuse and other vices.  Some of these future leaders have been killed without achieving their set goals.  Although, in the 80s and 90s, NYSC scheme was relevant in the labour market because it was the only requirement to get a plum job, the rigorous paramilitary trainings given to young corpers posted to local government areas  for various national assignments are not enough to assure Nigerian graduates good  workplaces.  Some recent statistics indicated that over 95 per cent of post-NYSC members are unemployed. This is a clarion call to the National Assembly and  the FG to scrap NYSC.

Godday Odidi,
Lagos.

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