The
decision of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to mobilise only 35 percent
of eligible graduates for the next batch of the
orientation exercise due to lack of funds portends danger for the
40-year- old programme. This is the second time in two years that NYSC is broke
and cannot mobilise over 300,000 graduates for the mandatory one-year national
assignment.
NYSC
had obtained approval for the mobilisation of 300,000 corps members for this
year. But with about 220,000 corpers still undergoing the programme in 2016,
NYSC has the funds to mobilise only another 30,000 corpers this year. With
nearly 200 institutions of higher learning churning out an average of 2,000
graduates each every year, about 400,000 graduates are available annually to be
mobilised for the NYSC programme.
NYSC
management finds itself in a predicament because resources at its disposal
cannot handle more than 80,000 new corps members from the expected 400,000
graduates. This indicates that 320,000 may not be called up for the service
this year. There is no guarantee that they will be called up next year, when
another 400,000 fresh graduates will have joined the queue. Meanwhile, their
job prospects must remain on hold until they complete the service year.
This
looming danger made the House of Representatives to mandate its Committee on
Youth Development to investigate the matter and report back. Meanwhile,
tertiary institutions have been directed to upload the particulars of only 35
percent of their graduates for mobilization. NYSC’s Director of Public
Relations Mrs. Aderibigbe said the agency long ago warned of its plight. She
said, “There is nothing we can do about it except our Director General succeeds
in getting the government to find ways to mobilise all the eligible corps
members.
We can only mobilise the number we can find the resources to cater for. The
number of graduates keeps increasing every year but our budget in not
increasing.”
Mobilising
only 35 percent of eligible corpers has thrown fresh graduates and their parents
into panic. Eligible corps members are besieging their schools to see how their
names can make it on the list. This situation will create the conditions for
school authorities to drag favouritism and corruption into the equation.
Wealthy parents can pay any amount to have their children on the list. It is
better that the government should not open another avenue for corruption that
would alienate the children of the poor.
While
the apparent solution to this conundrum is for more money to be given to NYSC,
this may not be a viable recommendation because the whole country is in
economic recession and no sector is adequately financed these days. It may
therefore be time for government to consider its drastic options. The NYSC
program could be suspended for now and all eligible graduates could be given
certificates of service. Alternatively, the provision that makes the service
year mandatory could be suspended and the service could be made voluntary for
now. The provision of the law that makes an NYSC certificate a must before a
graduate can get a job could also be suspended for now.
We
are not making these suggestions lightly because since its creation by General
Yakubu Gowon in 1973, NYSC scheme has greatly contributed to foster national
unity, increase mobility of labour, and has enormously assisted public schools
and hospitals as well as private entities to have a steady pool of cheap
skilled labour. For the young graduates, NYSC has been a very good transition
from school to working life and has helped to overcome the fear that youths
entertain of other parts of the country. It is an excellent national program
that needs to be saved and nurtured but if necessary, it could be modified
while the phase of economic recession lasts.
Source: Dailytrust
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