Discordant tones as NYSC marks 50th anniversary

By Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The golden jubilee commemoration of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme means different things to different people.
The Corps which was established by the General Yakubu Gowon-led administration on May 22, 1973 via Decree 24 now referenced as NYSC, CAP N84, Laws of the Federation of Nigeria has some main objectives including a follow-up action to actualise the ‘three Rs’ of Reconciliation, Reconstruction and Rehabilitation, to speed up the healing process in a country recovering from a protracted civil war.
In the wise thinking of the leadership of the then military government , it would take more than gunfire and armoured tanks to unite the numerous ethnic nationalities that make up Nigeria into a cohesive whole.
They also reasoned that, since unity and peaceful coexistence cannot be decreed, the best pathway would be to create a sustainable platform that would engender mutual trust, camaraderie, respect and understanding among the youth.
And to achieve this prime objective, increasing numbers of Nigerian youths who are moatly graduates of tertiary educational institutions are made to compulsorily undertake this scheme, and are usually deployed to states other than their states of origin across the country.
However Kaduna residents have different tales to tell concerning the scheme as the commemoration of the anniversary was celebrated in grand style in the Centre of learning.
The golden jubilee, celebrated amidst live band by the corps members, also featured good music, while on a two kilometre walk which was observed in the company of the scheme’s staff.
The two kilometre walk, also done in platoon formation, started from the NYSC Secretariat and ended at the prominent independence way.

Speaking to the media at the sideline of the walk, the State Coordinator of the scheme, Mr. Hassan Taura, said the celebration was significant, adding that the scheme had come a long way in achieving its mandate of national unity and integration.
He added that the scheme had over the years made a great impact to the nation in areas of education, health- care, election duty, census, and a lot of areas of national assignments where corps members are deployed.
Taura noted that because of the impact the scheme made over the years, the golden jubilee was coordinated by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, to give it special credence.
Describing security as the major bane of the scheme, he said a lot of activities of the scheme were either readjusted or tempered with.
Similarly, the President of Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) Alhaji Yerima Shettima said the scheme, established on May 22, 1973, had been a useful initiative to engage, mould and transform youths in the country.
He therefore called on Nigerians and government functionaries to continually cooperate with the scheme to break the barrier of unity in the country.
Shettima explained that the scheme which started with 1000 members now produces over 400,000 annually, which is a strong tool to foster unity in the country.
The AYCF President opined that some Nigerians today have settled in the different geopolitical zone of their choice because they served there.
Alhaji Yerima lamented that the insecurity bedeviling the country today is a threat to the scheme, but commended the Federal government for doing everything to sustain the program.
Speaking in the same vein Mrs. Helean Wase a former Commissioner of Plateau State who served in Oyo State in 1996 said the number of youths the scheme mobilised, integrated and empowered over the years is an indication that it achieved most of its core objectives.
Mrs. Wase lauds the recently introduced Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme which promoted among others; self-reliance for Corp Members.
She agreed that insecurity in the country is the challenges faced by the NYSC Scheme.
Pastor Matthew Ekundayo who served in Sokoto State in1983 observed that there was a time, many fresh graduates earnestly desired to wear the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) uniform, adding It was an honour to wear the khaki, serve one’s fatherland then, and the corps members truly served with sincerity and honour.
The clergy, however, expressed dismay that instead of fostering national cohesion and peaceful coexistence, especially after the civil war, the NYSC today leaves nothing for the youths to desire.
He said a major cause of the negative turn in the programme is the growing rate of insecurity across the country, particularly in the northern part where Boko Haram insurgency, banditry and kidnapping for ransom are thriving.
According to him in the last 20 years, corps members have been victims of election violence, kidnapping, abduction by terrorist groups and rape, with many being killed while serving their fatherland.
Mrs. Beatrice Audu from Jaba Local Area of Kaduna state said her daughter Easter Audu died in an auto crash along Kano -Kaduna road while going to report at the orientation camp.
She stressed that the death of her daughter in 2021 made her to believe that NYSC seems to have outlived its usefulness, hence should be scrapped .
However Corp members who participated in jubillee celebration in Kaduna hold different opinions.

A serving “Corper”, Joy Emmanuel, said the scheme had provided her a platform to have had the privilege of associating with different people of divers cultures all across the states.
“I am from Ekiti State, I have never been to the North, but courtesy of NYSC, here I am today and I am enjoying the environment,”she said.
Another corps member, Charles Onyeka, an indigene of Anambra, said the scheme has brought more civilisation to graduates across the nation.
“Some of us have never left our geo political zones, but NYSC has brought up together from all the zones, and getting to do away with some stereotypes,”he said
Also speaking with newsmen, a Corps member, Opeyemi Bakare, lauded NYSC for bringing people of different cultures, religions, languages and ways of life under one roof and unite them.
He said he was getting acclimatised with Kaduna state and its people, adding that he never knew the people could be so friendly, nice and tolerant in contrast to what other people say from afar.
The challenges facing the corps members and the NYSC management are, no doubt numerous. For some of the young men and women enlisted in the yearly scheme, recurrent issues of rejection at places of primary assignments and lack of necessary support from organisations in the face of the harsh economic reality in the country are issues to contend with.
Despite that, Nigerian youths still look up to the NYSC scheme with relished anxiety.
It’s indeed different strokes for different people.