Open Letter To FG – Scrap NYSC

I have read online about the purported
postponement of the NYSC. I have decided to
compile several reasons why the NYSC
should be scrapped.
I don’t want this to come across to you as a political
propaganda, I am neither for APC nor PDP I only
represent myself in this view and a few others who
will see reason with this. I fully represent NIGERIA.
Dear Mr President, DG NYSC and Mr Senate
president,
I write to you with great respect because its not easy
to be a leader and I humbly present my case that the
NYSC scheme should either be scrapped or redefined
to fit into the future of this great nation. Permit me
to start with the reasons why I think the scheme be
scrapped or amended after which I will talk about
probable amendments that could be implemented.
WHY THE NYSC SCHEME SHOULD BE
SCRAPPED/AMENDED.
1. The scheme was created to help the nation
heal quickly from the effects of the Civil
war: Now the civil war is over and we should be
focused on avoiding another war- an intra personal
war. This is a war that a person fights with himself
otherwise known as Confusion.
How do you expect someone who studied
Biochemistry to teach intergtated science
effectively? First of, the graduate studied
Biochemistry and not Biochemistry education! The
former is practical and field related while the latter
has to do with class activities)
2. Too much money is expended on this
scheme and there are no visible results: I
personally believe that the money spent on the
NYSC scheme will be enough to create jobs for these
graduates. Its not yielding results because after the
1-year mandatory service most of the graduates are
left jobless and without savings to start up a
business of their own – they don’t have savings not
because they don’t want to but because the cost of
‘survival’ is high. NOTE that I used ‘cost of survival’
and not ‘cost of living’ that’s simply because the
latter is not affordable!
3. Looks Like A Use-and-dump Scheme: After
the one year compulsory service I said earlier that
the graduates end up as jobless people. This is
because there is NO system, not to talk of having an
organized one. The companies (most times schools)
that the corpers are posted to milk them of every
dime the FG is paying (a paltry 19,800 most of which
will be spent on transport). These people will still
rent an apartment if they are so unlucky to be
posted to a state where they know no one (80% of
youth corp members fall in this category).
4. No relevant experience is gained in most
cases: I need not to talk too much about this but
I’ll say a little.
Now, of what relevance is the teaching experience a
Banking and Finance graduate gets from teaching a
primary school student? He/she will be dealing with
adults on the job after NYSC, he/she can’t probably
use whatever experience gotten. Total Waste Of Time
You’d Permit Me To Say!!!
There are lots of reasons I believe the scheme should
be scrapped or amended but I’ll leave the rest to the
readers of this letter.
I have included the Senate president as recipient of
this letter because I know nothing can be done
except through the senate. The NYSC was brought in
through an ACT, that act has to be amended by the
legislative arm of government.
Before I go ahead to the possible solutions, I know
some big guns will not agree that the scheme be
scrapped because of what they gain from the system,
a not-well-organised system.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS
1. Scrap the whole scheme and use the funds put into
the program to create jobs.
2. Let each person serve in their respective fields: Let
the man who studied engineering serve with Julius
Berger or ministry of works and let the man who
studied Agriculture serve on a government farm and
let them have the option of being fully employed
after their service year.
3. Trainings: Should the scheme be scrapped, the
government should make available free training
centers for fresh graduates.
4. Soft loans: These loans should be given out to
fresh graduates who wish to start up businesses
without collecting collateral. There should be strict
rules guiding the monitoring and implementation,
defaulters should be punished.
These loans should be treated as a contract between
the FG and the individual, the FG is contracting the
young graduate to start a business and create jobs.
That’s what happens when there are more businesses,
more jobs are available.
I wish I could write more but I’m typing this from
my phone, permit me to stop here.
I am Adebusoye Ademola and I think the NYSC
should be scrapped or amended.
Nigerians what do you think about this?
Drop your comments.