Mods, I hope this is the right section.

WHAT THE INCOMING GOVERNMENT SHOULD DO WITH N.Y.S.C.

The National Youth Service Corps (N.Y.S.C.) was created shortly after the Nigerian civil war basically for the purpose of national integration. Whether or not the scheme has achieved this has been a topic of intense debate among political commentators. In recent times however, there have been several calls for the scraping of the sheme. Those who argue for its continuation claim the scheme is still relevant in the nation-building process and that the significance of the experience young graduates acquire away from their comfort zones can not be over-emphasized. On the other hand, those who argue for its discontinuation claim the scheme has outlived its usefulness hence it's a waste of one whole year. Proponents of this perspective usually point attention to the peanut paid to the corpers and also to the simple fact that most of these corpers end up idle in rural areas with no access to clean water, electricity, good roads health care e.t.c some even pass out of the scheme still holding stereotypes of their respective hosts.
My purpose here is not to support or discredit any of the perspectives above but recently, my attention was drawn to a newspaper publication where the Buhari/Osinbajo led incoming government promised to pay N39,800 monthly allowance to serving corps members and also provide allowances to discharged but unemployed Youth Corps members for Twelve (12) months while in the skills and entrepreneurial development programmes. The way I understand this is that the government intends to pay N39,800 monthly allowance to all corpers for a period of one year and another N39,800 monthly allowance for another one year to those corpers who wouldn't secure jobs within one year after service. This equals two (2) whole years of non-stop allowee payment. This laudable initiative is plausible but if the government truely desires to do something about the raising youth unemployment, there is a need to go further than this.
Hence, in this post I intend to suggest what I think is best for the scheme in the face of the country's current socio-economic realities and to present a blueprint on how this is to be achieved.

One of the country's major problems today is youth unemployment, a situation that has caused many to hold the view that the govt is merely using NYSC to delay young graduates from entering into the already crowded labour market. My suggestion is this: the service year itself should be discontinued and the camping period extended to say two months (this is subject to review). Within this period, the NYSC SAED program should be strengthened so corpers will be equipped with the neccessary entrepreneurship skills that will enable them succeed outside the camp. Social activities should be encouraged and supported as all work without play makes jack a dull boy and the drills should be reduced as one can barely see its use outside the camp. At the end of the camping period, corpers should be paid a total of what is suppose to be their monthly allowances for a period of two (2) years - that is, monthly allowance (say N39,800) * 24 months [two (2) years] = N955,200. (nine hundred and fifty-five thousand, two hundred - approximately 1million). This is likely to provide the needed capital for each corper to start from somewhere and subsequently employ others. And since Nigeria graduates an estimated 1.8 million graduates yearly, this will likely cost an estimated 1.7 trillion (N955,200 * 1.8 million). Do the maths! If corruption is checkmated, I think the government can afford it8-).

Contrary views are welcome!

Refrences:
http://www.google.com.ng/url?q=https://marapolsa.com/breaking-i-will-increase-nysc-allowance-to-n39800%25E2%2580%25B3-gen-buhari/&sa=U&ei=Ou08VcmJCMPsUrXMgJAD&ved=0CAgQFjAA&sig2=nVYEKmL6aIWvIwz-qoVqdA&usg=AFQjCNHEV59lihJDAwBSj230twPIJOcvbA

http://www.vanguardngr.com/2015/01/buhari-promises-allowances-unemployed-corps-members-free-meal-pupils/

http://www.punchng.com/news/1-8-million-graduates-enter-job-market-yearly-fg/

http://www.thisdaylive.com/articles/-60-of-nigerian-graduates-are-unemployed-/130658/

I support this,the whole idea of the youth service is not followed any longer.people now influence the service posting which isn't supposed to be so(tho I'm guilty) but then if there wasn't security threat, hardship and expensive lifestyle in some part of the country. People would just make do with whereever they are taken to..aside that giving almost a million naira to someone who just graduated could be in a way dangerous as some graduate do not possess enough experience to handle such amount of money..for some others they will use the money judiciously.

It's great to know that I'm not the only person with this thought of discontinuing the service year and working on improving the NYSC's SAED program. To be frank, the sole aim of the scheme is defeated in the sense that, it has turned into a business venture for some of the people on top. If you check the statistics of 2014/2015 batch C Corp members and compare it with the previous ones, there is a high rate of relocation and "ghost" Corp members. A good number of Corp members are serving in their states of origin while others have an "arrangement" with their various L.Is, where they only get to come for clearance every month or in most cases, they only come for their certificates at the end of their "service" year. I hope the stake holders involved in this once great initiative will take note of this and make necessary adjustments and changes. Or better still, they should re-invent the program and train graduates for three months in various orientation camps and give them something to help start up and build a career.

Gud initiative man ...... I'll appreciate it if dey can just strt it now after d handin over




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C14
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