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NYSC Scheme:
Advancing the Call for Abrogation
By
Desmond Ihuoma
Newsdiaryonline
Sat July 16,2011
As young Nigerian graduates prepare again for another
orientation camping spread across the 36 states of the
federation and Abuja, I join the rest of patriotic Nigerians at
home and in diaspora to congratulate the Federal Government on
the establishment and 'sustenance' of the National Youth Service
Corps (NYSC). In the same vein, I extol the vision of the
founding fathers whose noble desire to Reconstruct, Reconcile
and Rebuild the precarious walls of our national unity and
existence as it were then, gave rise to the NYSC scheme.
Following the scourge of the 30-month old civil war, the then
Supreme Military Council (SMC) had thought the establishment of
the NYSC scheme would, by working towards certain set objectives
help Reconstruct, Reconcile and Rebuild the already
vandalized and balkanized Nigerian State. Hence, by the
promulgation of decree 24 of 22nd of May, 1973 the SMC of
General (rtd.) Yakubu Gowon led military junta created the
scheme partly with a view to encouraging and developing common
ties among Nigerian youths and promoting national unity.
For the scheme, it had set very lofty and ideal objectives some
of which are reproduced below and that attaining, would develop
a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the
Nigerian people:
·
Developing common ties among the Nigerian youths and promoting
national unity and integration
·
Inculcating discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them
a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal
service to Nigeria in any situation.
·
Removing prejudices, eliminating ignorance and confirming at
first hand the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic
groups; and
·
Raising the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the
opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national
achievement, social and cultural improvement, among others.
It was as a result of the unrealistic and broad nature of these
objectives that the military junta of General (rtd.) Ibrahim
Babangida repealed the aforementioned decree and replaced it
with Decree No.51 of 16th June, 1993, in order to introduce some
changes that would make the scheme more dynamic and relevant to
the contemporary and future needs of the Nigerian economy and
society, with the main thrust on corps welfare!
This however failed to do the magic.
A critical analysis of the whole scheme and its entire set
objectives vis-à-vis the current state of affairs in Nigeria
shows that the scheme is long over due for an overhaul!
I acknowledge some of the successes of the scheme over the
years. Among other achievements, it has helped:
·
Promote cultural integration as seen in inter-tribal marriages
of our youths;
·
Many corps members have been able to learn more Nigerian
languages order than theirs. This is partly attributed to the
opportunity offered them by the scheme;
·
Provide some level of man-power assistance to the overall
skilled workforce of host communities as seen in teaching
assistance rendered to schools in host communities;
·
Ensure active involvement of these great men and women in the
furtherance of our political evolution as the last general
elections show this. The 'relative success' of the entire
electoral process further reveals the extent to which the scheme
can be of use to our national life.
There are many other great achievements of these patriotic
Nigerians. They do us proud as they render these worthy and
selfless services to their fatherland.
However, in recent times, there has been an unprecedented rise
in the call for the abrogation of the scheme. Despite the few
achievements recorded by the scheme over the years, there are
very justifiable reasons to advance this call!
Tales of abduction, rape, ritual killings and political carnage
of these innocent ones continue to rise and tend to decimate the
very vibrant part of our national human resources. These
sanguinary incidences are spread across the various states of
the federation.
The highly condemnable and gruesomely barbaric murder of about
10 corps members in Northern Nigeria
following the violent post-election eruptions that engulfed the
country few months ago is enough reason to advance the call for
the immediate abrogation of the NYSC scheme. This is the main
reason I appeal to all concerned Nigerians to quickly rally
their collective energies and prevail on the Federal Government
to rescue our youths: the future of our beloved country!
For some time now, I have failed to understand why these young
ones in service to fatherland in distant lands have become the
targets of political (and religious) crises!
Their vulnerability and innocence in the complexity of our
political and religious configuration should have prevented them
from victimization of any sort.
Rather than serve as to:
*Remove prejudices and eliminate ignorance;
*Develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of
the Nigerian people among other objectives, the scheme now
readily provides the blood of innocent corps members to some
blood-thirsty and anachronistic elements which tending to serve
as anesthesia to their cannibalistic thirst, leaves them wanting
to maim, kill and destroy the most valuable asset of our
national and economic life!
These ones have failed to realize that time has changed and that
in this 21st century, man has advanced far beyond the primitive
stage of cannibalism and moving into a more civilized culture.
These satanic hoodlums, under the garb of illiteracy and some
senseless and baseless ethno-religious bias have over the years
continued to wreck havoc on the future leaders of this great
country.
It is not within the purview of this article to begin to give a
chronology of the events in which Southern Nigerians (Youths in
service to fatherland) have had to be cut down in their prime by
their host communities, their Northern brothers and sisters
whose duty it was to protect them. These, rather than give the
requisite protection always, resort to attacking, maiming,
raping and killing them at the slightest political/religious
provocation! I am afraid that if this continues unchecked, there
might be a cataclysmic upsurge and there will be nothing left of
the leaders of tomorrow.
My humble appeal to the powers that be:
·
Scrap the scheme (It is undemocratic, the brainchild of military
dictatorship)
·
Review/Overhaul the scheme (It has failed to achieve those lofty
and ideal objectives for which it was envisioned)
·
Post corps to their respective states (or geo-political zones)
of origin for now, pending when government is fully prepared to
address the issues at hand or when any of the two aforementioned
can be looked into.
I appeal to all parents of Southern Nigeria origin, whose wards
are awaiting their respective call-up letters from NYSC or are
waiting to move to camp to restrain their wards from serving
anywhere outside Southern Nigeria or their respective states (or
geo-political zones) of origin and rise up in unison to this
appeal and call to the powers that be for the repeal of the
dictatorial decree(s) that brought the scheme to be!
After all, the NYSC scheme was made for the youth and not the
other way round. So, it is not out of place to ask for its
abrogation!
Desmond Ihuoma, a social analyst and commentator on national
issues writes from Lagos.
ihuomades@yahoo.com
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