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 Aremola Dotun and I think the NYSC should be scrapped or amended.

Nigerians what do you think about this?

Drop your comments.