My service to my people is part of the discipline to which I subject myself in order to free my soul from the bonds of the flesh…For me the path of salvation leads through the unceasing tribulation in the service of my fellow countrymen and humanity”.
Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948)
The above quoted statement by the late Indian Statesman, Mahatma Ghandi, epitomises patriotism in all its ramifications. However, it requires life, hope and sincerity of purpose to be so dedicatedly determined. Perhaps, if Ghandi had been a Nigerian he would have made such a statement with reservation and that is if circumstances of life would ever permit him to make it at all. This indicates that an Indian of Ghandi’s status and intent might be an aberration in Nigerian environment. Detailed analysis on this may be left for another day.
About a year ago, (precisely May 22, 2013), the compulsory National service scheme in Nigeria generally known as National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) was 40 years old. It was another time for the federal government to roll out drums characteristically in celebration of the occasion with pump and pageantry. And the cost, as usual, was though not disclosed, must have run into billions of naira. From that jamboree, new millionaires must have emerged while bank accounts of some government officials must have swollen beyond imagination. Yet, we are fighting corruption tooth and nail.
The Value of 40
Forty years is universally acknowledged as the age of maturity. It is the age of mature reasoning when man is expected to handle matters with little supervision. It is the age at which the mistakes of the adolescent years are corrected. Incidentally it is the age at which every Prophet of Allah except Isa (Jesus) was commissioned to deliver Allah’s message to mankind. Any man at that age who can still not think before acting is called ‘a fool at 40’. Ditto a government or a nation.
The establishment of the NYSC scheme by the military government under the leadership of General Yakubu Gowon was not fortuitous. With the promulgation of Decree 24 of 1973, the scheme was established on May 22 of the same year not only as a demonstration of the government’s genuine intention to fulfil the regime’s post civil war policy of ‘Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation’ (otherwise called three ‘R’) but also to accelerate the country’s socio-economic development as well as to foster national unity and integration.
Purpose of NYSC
The Scheme was charged with the responsibility of mobilising, deploying and administering Nigerian Youths who must have graduated from tertiary institutions. Their duration of compulsory national service was scheduled to be one full year during which they are to be groomed for leadership. The objectives of the Scheme which compel the youth graduates to serve in States other than those of their origin are as follows:
1. To inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work and of patriotic service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves
2. To raise the moral value of Nigerian youths by providing them with the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievements as well as social and cultural improvement
3. To develop in the Nigerian youths the attitudes of mind, acquired through shared experience and suitable trading which will make them amenable to mobilisation in the national interest
4. To enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment
5. To contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy
6. To develop common ties (among Nigeria youths) geared towards the promotion of National unity and integration
7. To remove prejudice, eliminate ignorance and confirm, at first hand, the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups and
8. To develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of Nigerian people
The Cardinal Points
There were four cardinal points upon which the scheme is based. These are Mobilisation, Orientation/ Induction Course, Primary Assignment/Community Development Services (CDS) and Winding Up/Passing Out. Through these cardinal points the scheme mobilises Nigerians below the age of 30 years who are graduates of Universities, Polytechnics and (initially), Colleges of Education for a one year national service in any part of the Country. Such qualified Nigerians are given an instrument of mobilisation otherwise known as Call-Up letter which shows the state in which to serve and other particulars relating to the prospective Corps members.
Also, a three weeks training programme primarily designed to prepare corps members for the one year national service is provided and the training takes place in venues called Orientation Camps located in all the States of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The orientation course provides a platform for interaction among Nigerian Youths of diverse backgrounds and inclinations. Then, at the end of the Orientation exercise, corps members are posted to serve in both the public and private sectors. During this period, they provide skilful assistance in meeting the much needed man-power in the rural and urban Communities. The corps members are distributed to all the communities which now make up the 774 Local Government Areas in the 36 states of the Federation plus the Federal Capital Territory.
In addition, a Community Development Scheme was designed to be carried out by the Corps members along with their Primary Assignments. The CDS was planned to bring development to the host Communities through the activities of the Corps members for whom a day was set aside in a week to carry out Community Development initiative based on community need and to provide a platform for sustainable development in active cooperation of host communities.
Finally, a winding up/passing out programme was designed to draw the curtain over the service year and bring the corps members together once again to enable them share their experiences during the service year and deliberate on their individual future agenda. This is an opportunity for most corps members to exchange contact addresses and thereby establish permanent relationships. Thus, from such relationships, intertribal marriages and business partnerships emerged. The scheme remains one of the greatest achievements of General Yakubu Gowon’s regime as Nigeria’s military Head of State.
Policy Formulation
At the time of formulating the NYSC policy, Nigeria was still a country plagued by a myriad of problems generally known with underdeveloped countries such as poverty, mass illiteracy, acute shortage of high skilled manpower (coupled with most uneven distribution of the skilled people that are available), inadequate socio-economic infrastructural facilities, terrible housing shortage, lack of water and sewage facilities, roads, healthcare services, and effective communication system.
Faced by these almost intractable problems, which were further compounded by the burden of reconstruction after the civil war, the government and people of Nigeria set for the country, fresh goals, and objectives aimed at establishing a new Nigeria from the debris of the old. The aim was to build a united, strong and self-reliant nation; a dynamic economy; as well as open opportunities for all citizens in a free and democratic society.
It must be remembered that only six Universities existed in Nigeria by that time. These were the University of Nigeria, Nsukka; University of Ibadan, Ibadan; Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria; University of Lagos, Lagos, University of Ife, Ile Ife and University of Benin, Benin City. All these Universities, except University of Ibadan, (which was left behind by the colonialist as a national heritage) were forcefully acquired by the federal military government from their regional owners. And the inadequacy of needed manpower supplied by these Universities warranted the inclusion of graduates of Higher National Diploma (HND) from Polytechnics and later, the holders of National Certificate of Education (NCE). (The latter was however excluded with time when more Universities and Polytechnics emerged).
These universities and other institutions of higher learning are normally expected to serve as training grounds for future leaders, besides being committed to the advancement of learning and knowledge as well as training of people for good citizenship. Perhaps the deviation experienced from this expectation led to the accusation levied by members of the public against the products of those institutions of being too elitist in their outlook and of not identifying with the plight of the common man by appreciating the predicament of the vast majority of the citizenry who live in the rural areas.
Besides the reasonable policy of emulating compulsory national service from some civilised countries, the year 1973 symbolised the foundation of many great thoughts that would have made Nigeria a great African nation. That was the year in which Nigeria could be said to have gained economic independence by changing the national currency from pounds and Shillings inherited from the colonial masters to Naira and Kobo. It was also the year in which Nigeria’s oil boom began.
Corps members were paid a monthly stipend of N100 which was only a little less than the new salary of a fresh University graduate at that time. That stipend was not to be increased until the 1980s when inflation began to force the corps members to agitate for more. And for most of the 1980s the stipend paid to corps members was not more than N200 per month. It was only in the 1990s that the stipend attracted some major reviews. And besides the stipend paid by the federal government states and private companies also paid some token to those deployed to them for service in addition to accommodation provided. This is no more the case today. Corps members are now deployed at their own expense. The idea is that they should bear all their expenses from the N19500 or thereabout paid to them monthly.
Irony of Life
Ironically, some so-called former militants of the South-South who are virtually illiterates without any skills and are not engaged in any job are paid N60,000 per month for doing nothing other than laying down their weapons of vandalism. The implication of this is that any youth who wants to share in the federal government’s largess can go vandal and then negotiate with the government for a regular monthly fee in lieu of vandalism. Those who are being forced to serve their country for paltry monthly N19,500 are University graduates. And those who are paid N60000 per month for doing nothing are stark illiterates. Yet after one year of compulsory service by those corps members, there is nothing for them in terms of job even while the ex-vandals will continue to enjoy their largess of N60000 per month. What an irony? What a country?
Apart from preparing corps members for formal post graduation jobs and managerial administration in theory, NYSC is also supposed to serve as a major employer of labour by opening doors for many job seekers to be employed across different cadres. But is this the case now? There are hundreds of thousands of University graduates who have served their fatherland only to end up loitering around and riding motorbikes on commercial basis. Is this how to develop a nation? If University graduates are rendered so useless in a country where sheer mediocre are glorified what future is expected of such a country?
The year 1973 in the history of Nigeria can be called the turnaround year. But how much of that turnaround was utilised for the benefit of the country is a different question.
During the celebration of the 20th anniversary of NYSC scheme the need to reassess and upgrade it arose. Thus, Decree 51 was promulgated on June 16, 1993 to replace Decree 24 of 1973 with which the scheme was originally established. The aim of the new Decree was to look beyond the immediate present and think of the future leadership of the country for which the corps members were being groomed. This was done with a view to giving them the proper guidance and orientation relevant to the needs of the country. But now, 20 years after the new Decree, where is the result?
Deep down in the hearts of the formulators of the NYSC policy the scheme was primarily to inculcate in Nigerian Youths the spirit of selfless service to the community, and to emphasise oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians, irrespective of cultural or social backgrounds. The history of our country since independence has clearly indicated the need for unity amongst all our people. And, looking at the scheme retrospectively, it is evident that its real effect is vivid not only in the understanding of the cultural settings of certain tribes by corps members from other tribes but also in the settlements of some of those corps members in some parts of the country which, hitherto, could never have been in their dreams.
Pertinent Questions
Now, over 40 years after the commencement of this visionary scheme how much of the country’s objectives have been achieved? Does the scheme truly remain a national service that it was design to be or a servitude to a political clique called leaders? In its early days, NYSC was the pride not only of the serving corps members and undergraduates looking impatiently towards their turn to serve but also that of the nation. Does that still obtain today? Has corruption not derailed the original purpose of that laudable scheme? Are the genuine graduates of Universities and Polytechnics not being replaced by ghost graduate as characteristic of Nigerian system? Are graduates qualified for the service not being delayed for a year or two to enable corruption thrive by bringing in hoodlums and political thugs at the expense of the nation? Have factors like nepotism and tribalism not crept into the scheme today? Have stories of embezzlement and other financial scams not disorientated potential corps members and devastated the zeal in them to serve their nation? And what has become of hundreds of thousands who have served in the past many years?
Are Nigerian graduates useful for Nigeria today as originally planned?
Is Nigeria really reaping the fruits of the NYSC scheme today? Should compulsory service to the nation be an end or a means to an end? And now that corps members are incessantly becoming sacrificial lambs either at the slaughter slabs of some barbaric elements in the north or in the dragnets of some brutal kidnappers in the East shouldn’t there be a review of the law guarding that scheme if only to safeguard humanity and civility? Should parents continue to lose their children at that level to barbarism and unwarranted brutality in the name of non-existing national unity? Some people sat down to plan the establishment of this scheme. Besides planning to embezzle money through its celebration what plan does the current government have for sustaining it and safeguarding the lives of the youths being compelled to serve the nation?
Conclusion
These and many other questions are begging for urgent answers from the current government while some elements in the government are getting richer by the day. If the pleasant past produced the agonising present to the benefit of a clique of misfits let no one assume that the agonising present will produce any hopeful future. The days of life are never the same in other countries. They cannot be the same in
Nigeria.
“Allah never changes the situation of a people (or a nation) until those people have sincerely repented and refrained from their iniquities”. Q. 13:11
