|
Understanding the NYSC
Reform
By Julius Ogunro
Newsdiaryonline Wed Oct 5,2011
Besides the obvious misrepresentation of facts, Tribune’s
editorial of September 29, 2011 appears ill-motivated and
therefore in bad taste.
Its tone was unnecessarily harsh; the choice of words
incredibly impolite and inappropriate. And it was indeed
unprofessional for the editorial writers to substitute cold
analysis for name calling and cheap insults.
The temper of the leader indeed fuels suspicion that its authors
have an axe to grind with the Honourable Minister of Youth
Development, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi. But even then the
offensive shtick disguised as editorial would have been
pardonable if it had an iota of truth in it.
It did not.
It is quite unfortunate that a paper of Tribune’s age and
experience would base its editorial on an issue it obviously had
no knowledge about and did not bother to find out. It is
therefore not surprising that it had nothing to say about the
wholesome plan to reform the National Youth Service Corps other
than to describe it as ‘an inexcusable banditry of the worst
kind.’
Apart from the fact that the paper drew its conclusion from the
wrong premise, pray, what has banditry got to do with the
proposal to reform the NYSC?
Any right thinking person knows that banditry is the activity of
an armed gang that robs people. So when did the Minister show up
in a bank with a gun?
He only proposed reforms that will bring value to corps
members and the society at large. Is this banditry? The only
reasonable explanation is that the writer of that editorial did
not know the meaning of the word banditry or was a victim of
malapropism.
This raises the question about the quality of Tribune’s
editorial writers. Are they rookie reporters who need to be
schooled in the fine art of writing and the meaning of words? Do
they need to take classes in elementary logic and learn that ad
hominem, personal attack, is one of the oldest fallacies in
logic and argument? We will leave that to the Management of the
paper to deal with.
But to set the records straight, there is need to explain what
the Honourable Minister of Youth Development, Mallam Abdullahi
actually said during the Media Briefing to mark the 100 Days of
the Administration of President Goodluck Jonathan. Among other
intervention programmes, the Minister explained that time was
ripe for the overhaul of the NYSC, from
that of national integration to an NYSC of national
transformation. This, according to him, meant that national
integration was not enough justification for the existence of
the scheme today; that in addition, the NYSC should address the
concerns and challenges of today.
Mallam Abdullahi disclosed that to make the scheme more
relevant, he was considering several PROPOSALS, which will
emphasize the S (service) in the NYSC. The central idea is that
corps members should serve where the nation has critical needs
such as Education, Health, Infrastructure and Agriculture. For
instance, young graduates could learn and participate in large
scale mechanized farming during service year and later
encouraged to
become agro-entrepreneurs. The thinking is that with the
presence of rich arable land in all parts of the country, the
corps members would be contributing to feeding the nation and
meet the gap in our food production cycle. In addition to
learning valuable skills that would come in handy after the
NYSC. Same for other critical sectors.
Another idea is to use the NYSC as a finishing school, where
corps members would spend considerable time of the service year
learning valuable life and enterprise skills. This would ideally
bridge whatever educational gap they might have and provide them
with market-ready skills. It is in line with this, that the
Minister mentioned in passing that if
this idea takes off,
corps members would not be posted to banks and other private
institutions, except there
is a commitment by such companies to absorb the corps members
after service.
At the briefing in Abuja, the Minister decried the current
situation in which private institutions go ‘round tripping’ by
engaging numerous corps members, pay them peanuts and not retain
them after service. They do this year in, year out since there
is no short supply of ‘cheap corpers’. For these corps members,
they learn no valuable skills or gain precious
experience as they are underutilized.
Banks mostly use corps members as marketers to mobilize
resources for them, if they are pretty girls; and as tellers if
they are young males.
This situation unwittingly contributes to high youth
unemployment as these companies lack the incentive to employ
real workers. This situation must change; the NYSC must add
value to corps members and to the society. It should not be a
source of cheap labour to companies that can afford to engage
full time workers.
Mallam Abdullahi understands the need for the contribution and
buy-in of critical stakeholders before the implementation of any
policy regarding the NYSC. The Ministry is therefore consulting
widely and has not decided on a specific plan or action
regarding the scheme. When we are ready, the public can be sure
of getting good returns on the huge funds invested in the NYSC.
Finally, the Minister is not afraid of being criticized but
expects this to be done with decorum based on facts and reason.
As a former Commissioner of Education in Kwara and a man who has
been in public service for almost a decade, Mallam understands
the value and gains of constructive feedback. But Tribune
displayed malice and ignorance in their offensive and near
infantile gibberish, which it calls editorial. We hope this will
set the records straight.
Ogunro is Special Assistant on Media to the Honourable Minister
of Youth Development
|
