REFORM OF THE NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE CORPS (NYSC): Remaking the Corps for the 21st Century

by ‘Dubem Okadigbo Moghalu

PREAMBLE

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was created by the regime of General Yakubu Gowon via Decree No.24 of 22nd May 1973. The NYSC was envisaged as a national integrationist mechanism, created specifically to help heal some of the wounds of the civil war that had ended just three years prior. The Nigerian civil war had raged from 1967 to 1970, leading to incalculable loss of human lives, and exposing in the process the deep fault lines that existed in the Nigerian state. Religion, tribe, ethnicity and the prejudices that derive therefrom had found their way into the political sphere, creating a conflagration of near epic proportions. The NYSC, was an attempt to make real the ‘No victor, No vanquished’ mantra of the Gowon administration. The NYSC allowed young, educated Nigerians to be posted to locales within the country other than their own. It was believed that exposure to different cultures, and ways of life would lead to a greater appreciation of our common humanity and forestall the likelihood of future violent outbursts against our fellow citizens. In so far as our country has managed despite many dalliances on the precipice to avoid a second civil war, the NYSC could arguably be described a success.

However, forty two (42) years after the creation of the NYSC, the religious, tribal and ethnic divisions within our country show no sign of abating; thousands still die every year – victims of violence at the hands of their fellow citizens. Disagreements over religious practice, electoral outcomes, commercial opportunities and any number of things too often deteriorate into outbreaks of cataclysmic and extremely violent ethno-religious conflicts. Four years ago, the NYSC itself was drawn into this conflict, when young Nigerians who had been entrusted to their care were brutally murdered by persons protesting the outcome of the 2011 General Elections. This was not the first incident of NYSC members giving their lives in service of our nation and it is unlikely to be the last.

In the time since the NYSC was created, our nation has changed in many fundamental ways. We are producing more university graduates today than at any other time in our nation’s history, but we are failing to produce in the same numbers, graduates who have the intellectual capacity and skill set to thrive in the global economy. Violent, internal conflicts have taken on a new dimension with the addition of militancy in the Niger Delta and Boko Haram in the North East. Our economy is in a free fall brought on by overreliance on a single income stream and the collapse of the infrastructure necessary to encourage private investment and commerce.

We have a responsibility to rethink the way we conduct the business of government in our country. This requires that we take a critical look at the various institutions of government with a view to identifying methods of achieving greater efficiency and utility. This is the right time to examine the structure, objectives and utility of the NYSC. In the following pages, I will try to review the common criticisms and failures of the NYSC, explore areas of possible reform and make recommendations that ought to be considered if we are truly desirous of remaking the NYSC and improving the Corps’ effectiveness in the 21st century. The principal purpose of this exercise is to stimulate conversation and to encourage policy makers in the new administration to think radically about the problems we face and the solutions that are available to us.

THE STATUS QUO

In the time since 1973 when the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was created, the country has changed drastically in ways that impact on the functionality of the NYSC. The Corps on the other hand has remained essentially the same in its mission, its objectives and structure. It has however changed in one fundamental way – the cost of running the Corps continues to increase year on year without a commensurate return on investment for the Nigerian people. In 1973, there were a total of six universities in the country. Today according to the National Universities Commission (NUC), there are one hundred and thirty eight (138) accredited universities in Nigeria. This is in many ways a good thing. The increase in the number of universities has expanded access to education for a greater percentage of the Nigerian people. The universities have themselves become centres of cross cultural interaction as a greater number of our countrymen travel across the land to seek higher education away from their places of origin. Coupled with advancements in communications technology, young educated Nigerians are better able to communicate, interact and develop the common ties that are essential to promoting national unity and cooperation.

However, the increase in available university places has caused an explosion in the numbers of graduates eligible to participate in the NYSC each year. As the numbers of participants increase, so also does the annual cost of the program. In the fiscal year 2014, the sum of N74,502,185,845 (Seventy Four Billion, Five Hundred and Two Million, One Hundred and Eighty Five Thousand, Eight Hundred and Forty Five Naira) was budgeted and spent on the NYSC. This massive outlay in resources should not suggest that the Corps as currently constituted is equipped to perform the essential skills acquisition and leadership training that was a key part of the program at its inception. 89% of the total budgeted sum for 2014 represents salaries and wages for the massive bureaucracy that exists to manage the Corps as well as allowances for Corps members during the service year. The rest of the budget covers the logistics of running the program and maintaining the headquarters and field offices of the NYSC. Only 0.52% of the Corps’ budget for 2014 went towards training and skills acquisition.

Two years ago, the Federal Government directed that Corps members would only be posted to certain critical sectors; Rural Health, Primary and Secondary Education; Rural Infrastructural Development and Agricultural Development. In spite of this directive, Corps members for the most part still serve primarily to provide cheap labour to various private sector operators in the country. They serve the interests of these organisations for the duration of the service year only for the majority of them to be tossed back into the job markets by employers who possess neither the desire nor the capacity to provide them with full employment at the end of their service year. Rather than an opportunity to serve the country in a productive capacity, the service year has become a form of indentured servitude.

The compulsory nature of the service means that both those who are eager to serve and those who’d rather not are thrown together into the system. Thousands of Corps members facing deployment are actively engaged in trying to circumvent the process. Often, this involves the payment of gratification to ensure prime postings to urban centres. Other times, gratification is paid to allow some Corps members avoid the rigors of camping or to skip the service year entirely even though records are created to suggest otherwise. In these cases, officials of the NYSC offer this service in exchange for the allowances that would otherwise have gone to the Corps members. This corruption of the process could not have been the intent of the founders of the Corps.

For a long time, there has been growing public disquiet about the NYSC program. Corruption, inefficient management of resources, insecurity of Corps members and the absence of readily identifiable benefits to the Nigerian society has caused an increasing number of people to question the need for the continued existence of the Corps. Some concerned citizens have gone to the courts to force the federal government to scrap the Corps program whilst others have engaged the media apparatus to launch a massive campaign and call into question the value of the program to the modern Nigerian state.

I take a slightly different view. I believe that the objectives behind the program’s creation are laudable. However, I believe that the emphasis should move from national integration towards manpower development and leadership training. I believe that the Corps program can be made into an effective tool for developing the next generation of Nigerian public and private sector leadership. I believe also that to do this, we must be ready to do away with our preconceptions about the NYSC and be willing to see the organisation as it is, and as it ought to be.

THE FUTURE

Our objective here is to build an organisation that is more responsive to the needs of the Nigerian nation in the 21st century; that adds long-term value to the lives of our nation’s youth and improves the socio economic potential of our country. As importantly, we want to do this in a manner that does not cause the already exorbitant costs of the program to further balloon out of proportion. To achieve these objectives, we have designed a reform proposal around four principal headings. They are as follows:

1. Eligibility And Duration Of The National Youth Service Program

Unless where an exception is granted, every Nigerian citizen who has graduated from university within or outside Nigeria, completed a Higher National Diploma (HND), National Certificate of Education (NCE) or any other such professional qualification after the 1972/73 academic year is eligible to be called up for service in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). Refusal by an eligible candidate to participate in the program denies the individual the opportunity to fully engage in the public life of the Nigerian society either by contesting for or holding public office or by being appointed into the civil service of Nigeria. Four decades ago, when there were only a handful of universities and a limited number of graduates, this made sense. Today, it is merely a guarantee that the state will continue to be required to pump billions of naira annually into a program that’s currently delivering subpar results at great cost.

It is my recommendation that the compulsory call up system be replaced by a voluntary service program. Eligibility remains the same as under the current statute. However, people who wish to participate in the program will now be required to apply for a position in the program by filling a form, submitting a curriculum vitae, academic credentials and a personal statement explaining why they wish to participate in the NYSC. These applications will be received by the Corps headquarters and screened according to pre-determined criteria. Subsequently, qualified applicants will be required to pass aptitude tests designed and implemented by outside consultants to gauge language proficiency, personality skills, mental acuity and an above average understanding of the history amongst other things. Only those individuals who are able to scale through these processes will be called up to serve in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).

Once these individuals are called up, they would be required to commit themselves to twenty four months of service to the Federal Government through one of three path ways and in exchange for benefits that we would discuss below. Prospective Corps members will also undertake their willingness to be assigned to duties and locations as required by the Corps and the Federal Government.

2. Program Pathways

Today, members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) who are called up to serve their country can be assigned to any number of places within the public and private sectors to serve in capacities that have limited value for the Nigerian society writ large. Participants in the program have limited ability to choose to serve in sectors where they have the capacity, skill set and willingness to contribute effectively to our society. In light of this, it is my recommendation that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program be divided into three service pathways – a military service pathway, a public service pathway and the Teach for Nigeria (TfN) project.

1. Military Service Pathway: Corps members who indicate a preference for the military service pathway will be organised into a National Guard Force, attached to different military installations across the country and required to undertake extensive military training in urban peacekeeping, military tactics and artillery operations. They would not be required to engage in combat roles as they are not part of the military, but will operate more as a relief force to assist the traditional military with many of the internal policing roles to which they are increasingly assigned. However, they will be able to live with professional soldiers, train with them and participate in military activities to the extent that is necessary for them to become acclimatized with the military standards of discipline, professionalism and patriotism.

1. Public Service Pathway: The Public Service pathway will be available to those members of the Corps who are desirous of serving their government by participating in the administration of public services and the implementation of government policy particularly in the areas of Rural Health, Primary and Secondary Education; Rural Infrastructural Development and Agricultural Development. Corps members will be assigned to sectors and locales where there is an ongoing deficit in qualified personnel to perform necessary functions. Corps members who choose to participate in the Public Service pathway will be available to provide capable manpower support for non-profits, public agencies, community and faith based groups across the country. The pathway will provide an opportunity for educated and capable young Nigerians from across the country to interact with one another, work with one another and have the opportunity to understand how macro-economic policy and political decisions affect the ordinary man on the street. This will empower them to be able to consider solutions that work as opposed to solutions that look good on paper. It will also help them to understand that at the end of the day, despite our religions, tribes and ethnicity, our problems and concerns are all the same – shelter, healthcare, education, physical security and the opportunity for dignified labour.

iii. Teach for Nigeria (TfN) Project: The mission of the Teach for Nigeria (TfN) project will be to enlist, train and deploy willing, capable, promising and young Nigerians to be at the forefront of the movement to ensure universal access to basic primary education. Corp members who choose to be a part of the project will commit to teach for two years and are hired by public schools across the country that establish a partnership with the Teach for Nigeria (TfN) project. Corps members will receive training in the practices of great teachers and leaders, they will learn how to communicate with young people, how to partner with families and communities to increase the opportunities available to their students in school and in life. TfN teachers will be ambassadors to the communities where they operate, tasked with helping the students in their care realise that there is world beyond the confines of their local communities.

3. Rewards and Benefits System: A system of incentives must be put in place to encourage participation in a national program of voluntary service. This is intended not only to encourage participation but also to reward those who make the decision to offer themselves to serve their country with dedication. The incentives offered will be divided into five separate categories as follows;
4. Upward Review of NYSC Allowance: A remuneration plan that guarantees new university graduates a minimum wage that amounts to poverty pay for the first two years after they graduate is not an incentive to productivity, or a facilitator of patriotic will. An upward review of the sums paid to Corps members is essential both as a matter of good conscience and as a way of making sure that Corps members can serve productively in the locales to which they have been posted. In addition to the NYSC allowance, the states to which Corps members are assigned would also be required to make provisions for additional allowances to cater for the Corps members in their states.
5. Specialist, Certified Training Programs: These programs will allow participants to participate in specialist training programs and to receive Certificates and Diplomas as evidence of their training and proficiency in the various fields. The training programs will be designed in partnership with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and professional organisations and accreditation bodies. This sort of training is intended to equip members of the Corps with the skills required to improve their capacity to contribute effectively during their service years but also improve their ability to be easily absorbed into full employment upon completion of their service years. The partnership with the Open University will also allow for special Masters Degree programmes to be developed that allow participants in the programme to gain advanced degrees, with their service experience forming part of the course requirements. Corps will also benefit from leadership training course designed especially for them.

iii. Priority Public Sector Employment: Young people who participate fully and productively in the Corps for the prescribed period will receive priority consideration if they chose to pursue careers in the Military, Police and related security agencies as well as Federal and State Civil service. The training acquired during the service years and the experience of hands on involvement in one of the three service pathways will equip Corps members to be better qualified than most. Also, granting priority status will encourage the Corps members to seriously consider public sector roles that allow them to find ways to solve the problems they have identified during the course of their participation in the program.

1. Priority Private Sector Employment: Federal government contractors will be obligated to give Corps alumnus priority access to employment opportunities within their organisations. This would be a requirement for continued participation as a federal government contractor in any Ministry or Department or Agency of Government.
2. Priority Access to Federal Government Funds for SMEs: The Federal Government of Nigeria has implemented a range of programs to provide funds to startups and other small and medium scale businesses in the country. Under these reforms, Corps alumnus who have good business ideas and a workable plan for implementation will be able to access these funds on a priority basis.
3. Composition of the National Directorate: The National Directorate as presently constituted leaves no room for the involvement of younger people in setting the policy objectives of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). For a program that mostly deals with youth, this is a counterproductive arrangement that precludes the Directorate from hearing directly from those whose interests it proposes to serve. I recommend therefore that as part of the reform process, it ought to be mandated that at least four members of the National Directorate be persons whose age falls within the youth range as defined by the African Youth Charter; that is persons not exceeding thirty five years of age.

CONCLUSION

Radical thinking at a time of rapid change and accelerated austerity is not a virtue, it is an essential requirement for survival and growth. This is the time to recognise that the proper role of government in a democracy is to facilitate the conditions that allow people to improve their own outcomes. Every resource of government expended can only be justified if such expenditures serve to build out the “Infrastructure of Opportunity” that is necessary for citizens to achieve whatever their human minds can dream. The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has survived for forty two years in its current form. Going forward, opportunities for growth and increased utility can only be achieved by revamping the way the organisation operates, by rethinking its core mission and by building the cross party and cross country alliances and partnerships that will allow reform to happen. This is the time for a new covenant of governance, a revitalized partnership between the government and its citizenry. We must recognise now more so than ever that it is not sufficient to stick with the old ways merely because that is what we are familiar with. If one way isn’t working as it should, there must be another way and we are obligated to consider it, to pursue it and to explore the potential for success.

We stand at a point in our national history fraught with danger, yet filled with great and unfulfilled promise. Choice, not chance will determine our destiny. Our future is not set, it is the product of the choices we make from this moment forwards. There are a lot of young people eager and capable of making change, let us make the choice to provide them with a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) that directs their eagerness towards a noble service. Let us commit to building a National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) that equips our youth with the knowledge, confidence and experience they require to improve the circumstances of their own lives to the benefit of their families and their communities. Let the NYSC of the 21st century be an organisation that reflects the best hopes and aspirations we hold for our teeming population of young people and for our beloved country.