The nationwide passing out ceremony of National Youth Service Corp members in the last couple of days was a clear testimony that the scheme has really been successful, serving the ultimate purpose for which it was established – to foster the unity of the country and nurture the forces that provide cohesion and harmony among the students from various ethnic background.
The effectiveness and positive nature of the scheme was demonstrated in the manner the youth are embracing it with remarkable zeal and enthusiasm to serve their fatherland diligently in areas other than the ones they were born and reared.
That had been the underlining factors of the scheme’s acceptability and its suitability in the hands of the youths as a veritable tool for nation building. The spirit of that premier youth programme and its relevance to the aspirations and yearnings of both parents and the youths have really enabled it overcome all forms of intrigues and plotting to derail it through the instrumentality of tribalism, religious bigotry and ethnocentricity.
The scheme, which commenced in 1973, is a genuine blessing in disguise to this country. It is arguably the most enduring tie that binds the motley ethnic groupings in Nigeria, having been carefully designed and introduced as one of the cardinal points of the post civil war strategies for winning sustainable peace by rehabilitating and integrating the break-away Igbos into the mainstream of the nation, through the reconstruction of the war damages and putting the warring factions on fraternal course once again.
The scheme required the postings of fresh university graduates to states other than their own, on yearlong mandatory services with a view to making them adaptable to new environment so as to become self reliant, patriotic, proud and loyal to their nation.
Like most successful ventures worldwide, initial hiccups and difficulties are often associated with their implementation. The NYSC scheme was not exempted from certain drawbacks at the primary stage of its execution.
The graduates drawn in to pioneer the scheme rejected their call up and embarked on destructive demonstrations nationwide, unprecedented in the annals of student unionism. Their grievance was the additional year they have to spend in what they called unprofitable servitude in place of lucrative jobs waiting for them with attractive fringe benefits which included car loans and furnished apartments. Nevertheless, the Government of General Yakubu Gowon stood its ground about implementing the scheme and diplomatically advised the militant youths against resisting the plan which it pointed out was for the good of the country. It can now be seen that the scheme has succeeded tremendously, ushering in innumerable benefits to the nation.
Sadly enough, several years after Nigerians have been reaping such meaningful gains of the scheme, some unpatriotic citizens begun making desperate attempts to discredit it by deliberately trying to dissuade participants from certain parts of the country from going to other areas they have been encouraged to avoid due to supposed instability, volatility and precariousness. In the past few years these disloyal elements have almost succeeded in derailing the scheme when they asked their kinsmen and to stay away from the areas they were posted.
Can anyone imagine what will likely happen if youths from despised and avoided states in the north turn down postings to volatile and politically unstable states in the south where they will constantly be bothered by myriad of problems including hardened political thugs, vicious armed robbers and heartless kidnappers? That may likely be the end of that splendid scheme which adequately promoted sense of unanimity among diverse ethnic groups.
The essence of the NYSC scheme is to foster unity by pushing back the boundaries of cultural differences and to also allow the coppers contribute positively to the development of the country.
That explains why apart from regimental training the coppers receive at the orientation camp, they are also deployed to serve as secondary school teachers; in the government ministries; in commercial outfits and industries. In that way some state governments and other organizations, deficient in certain category of skilled workers, find the services of the youth coppers extremely valuable.
It will therefore amount to callousness if any section of this country is denied the services of these productive youths, especially some northern states which are struggling hard to catch up with their southern counterparts who have several years head start in advancing their states educationally and technologically.
If living and serving in some northern states are risky and hazardous for southern youth coppers who were consequently debarred from inhabiting them, it will then be right and proper to discourage all southerners from frequenting them for whatever reason. In that case too, all students of southern origin, which formed the core of student population in northern universities and tertiary institutions, should likewise withdraw on account of their personal safety.
Undoubtedly, and from the foregoing therefore, the NYSC scheme has actually come to stay in this country, debunking the contention of its critics and antagonists who actually want to stain its importance to our unity and national development. The scheme may still exist in the shadows of its past, but it has not outlived its usefulness.
