The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was established by the General Yakubu Gowon’s military junta with the view to aid the removal of distrust amongst the various ethnic groups in Nigeria after the Nigeria/Biafra civil war that led to the deaths of millions of people and the destruction of properties. The scheme was essentially introduced to inculcate into our youths the culture of oneness and patriotic service to father-land’s Nigeria.
Yes, in those good old days when the scheme was introduced, the Corps members were revered and job opportunities abound as such every university or polytechnic graduate looked towards participating in the NYSC programme with its attendant bright future. The programme enables corps members to travel to various parts of the country and interact with different people and culture for self evaluation of what mankind is all about, thus oneness.
Indeed, host communities where corps members were posted for their primary assignments take care of their needs and they are jealously guarded, such aura of acceptability give every corps member a real sense of belongings.
Today, the nostalgic feeling that goes with the programme has eroded into a nightmare as mere mention of the programme attract shilling feelings into the spines of would-be corps members as a result of neglect and insecurity by both the host communities who are hostile to corps members and the lukewarm attitude of the government towards the plight of corps members.
The NYSC programme is nowadays derogatorily referred to as ‘Now Your Suffering Continues'(NYSC) because of what the scheme has become of today. The typical example of the hostilities against corps members could be cited during the 2011 presidential election in Kano where Corps members on election duties were massacred and the subsequent killings of corps members in other states during elections. The Corps members are used as sacrificial lambs.
The token allowance popularly called ‘allowee’ is hardly paid even proper health care facilities are not easily available to Corps members; their lives are not properly insured. They are left in strange lands to wallow in the wilderness of survival of the fittest.
Many people are of the opinion that the scheme has outlived its usefulness and should be scrapped.