Written by Oluwafemi Ogunjobi, Chairperson, ASFL Executive Board

Following the deaths of three university graduates at the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps in the last two weeks, the mandatory one year scheme is currently in the eye of the storm.

Deaths were reported in Bayelsa, Kano and Zamfara state orientation camps where Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi, Ifedolapo Oladepo and Monday Asuquo, respectively, lost their lives. The collective outrage that greeted these unfortunate incidents was informed by the belief that the youngsters died as a result of negligence and ill-treatment. Such a terrible loss of young promising individuals. For the parents and families, it is a lifetime pain and sorrow for losing their children whom they hope of a better future.

Birthed in 1970 during the military regime under General Yakubu Gowon, the scheme was conceived as a strategy to encourage cultural integration in the aftermath of the civil war. It was probably modeled after schemes of service that existed in countries such as the UK, US and Israel where youths were given military or paramilitary training, often for defense. However, almost all of these schemes have been reviewed or phased out after serving the purposes for which they were fashioned, except in Nigeria.

The NYSC achieved its purpose and fostered integration in the country to a very large extent. It also provided much needed skills and labour to disadvantaged communities as doctors, lawyers, nurses, and engineers are posted to various parts of the country to serve. The decree that established the NYSC made it compulsory for all graduates and before long, it became a prerequisite for employment or admission to postgraduate colleges in some cases. However, attendant of all welfare schemes, corrupt mismanagement has turned the compulsory Nigerian National Youth Service into a total failure.

Sadly, the deaths of Chinyerum Nwenenda Elechi, Ifedolapo Oladepo and Monday Asuquo are not new cases. The scheme has overtime been plagued with several similar cases of corps members losing their lives during the service year. Some have died in accidents on their way to orientation camps, some kidnapped, some brazenly killed by hoodlums during elections, and so on.

The continued insecurity of lives and the financial waste that comes with the scheme, makes it worrisome on why it has not been scrapped.

Rather unfortunate, the negligence responsible for the death of these corps members reflect the flaws with social welfare programs and attendant government’s ineptitude. NYSC is a reflection of the rot in many public institutions in Nigeria. The program, through dependency, has rubbed on graduates to become independent and become a productive member of the society.

Government handouts, or unemployed benefits de-capitalize the productive members (the entrepreneurs) of society and capitalize unproductive members. It is a situation that the most creative and productive people in society are hindered from continuing to make valuable contributions to society.

What the Nigerian government has successfully done is create a culture of dependence on social welfare where individuals grow to depend on the assistance they will receive from the state, instead of correcting the problem that causes the need for assistance.

A March 31, 2016 article on this same subject matter explained that ‘the value of skilled labour that corps members provide to the country is such that the government cannot truly afford to pay for it.’

These youths are paid minimum wage, a pittance of 19,800 Naira monthly and are expected to be pillars of the communities they are posted to. They are expected to provide top notch services as doctors, lawyers, teachers, or engineers and yet, the government cannot guarantee their safety. They are sent into “war zones”, with little or no preparation. For a lot of corps members, the one year program is a huge waste of time as it does nothing to advance future career prospects.”

With huge budgetary allocation of more than 70 billion Naira annually, NYSC has continued to be source of gross-corruption – a major reason why the scheme is yet difficult to scrap.

Olufemi Ogunseye, in his call for the abolition of the scheme, opined that:

“For a scheme where numbers can be easily manipulated without any serious authentication techniques, you can just imagine what goes on. There are probably thousands and thousands of ghost corp members who get monthly allowances from the Federal Government. They are not ghosts. Actually, many of them are NYSC and government staff that have devised immoral means of enriching themselves. Then the procurement process for kits! I learnt a single corps member’s official wears, jungle boots and all, costs over seventy thousand Naira on the budget although, they may as well go for as low as ten thousand or even less in the real market. So thrice a year, someone makes over fifty thousand Naira on the head of over a hundred thousand corps members. As if we have no more urgent national needs that require every kobo we can gather.”

Welfare schemes, like the NYSC destroy any incentives that may be present in a free market economy. The thousands of ghost corp members, NYSC and government staff who receive monetary incentive do not produce anything that revitalizes the system being funded. When the government continues to give people incentives not to produce, they produce less, and the circle of dependence and stagnancy keep getting large.

The Nigerian government is taking advantage of the productive abilities of young individuals through the NYSC scheme. The time these youngsters should make use of after brilliant years of academic pursuit should not be wasted on a social scheme. Their energies should rather be channelled towards making a good living for themselves, especially as entrepreneurs, and therefore contributing to a free and better society.