Good day to everyone reading this, my name is Ayoola Oshodi, i am a digital marketer, event producer and manager at MMH Limited - a management and media company based in Lagos, Nigeria and NC, USA. I am writing this as a means to reach out to the ruling people in power and as a way to advise the government on what to do with the present NYSC program that has become a waste of time.

First of all, i will like to start this piece by saying that this piece is not written to discredit the NYSC program, but as a way to make it better. Also i am the original poster of this content, no part of it should be reproduced without due credit to the original poster.

Many readers do not know that the NYSC program was created in a bid to reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian Civil war.

The unfortunate antecedents in our national history gave impetus to the establishment of the National Youth Service Corps by decree No.24 of 22nd May 1973 which stated that the NYSC is being established "with a view to the proper encouragement and development of common ties among the youths of Nigeria and the promotion of national unity".

- NYSC website.

Fast forward to today it is not rocket science to see that the aim in which the NYSC was created has been outlived which means that the program has outlived its usefulness. Nonetheless, this program has become a pride to many youths of this great nation. Youths who graduate from higher institutions wear their green khaki and white shirt with pride to show the world that they are indeed finally a graduate, while the under graduates countdown to the days of their service year. Many others have met life partners and business partners from various camps across the nation while some others discover themselves and set on a life changing path to fulfilment from this program just to point out a few benefits of the program. It is also no doubt a great way of integrating fresh graduates into the workforce of the country.

It is madness to keep doing the same thing and expecting different results. It has become a night mare for corpers and parents when the service year commences as the living conditions of these young adults has become an eye sore, not to mention the late payment of their peanut allowees, and the remoteness of the communities some of these youth corpers get posted to on a yearly basis. Also companies now hire corpers batch in, batch out as it helps them to save money on paying graduate staffs. They promise this corpers employment after the service year, only to hire and replace them with fresh corpers when a new batch of corpers become available for hire. To me, this can be equated to modern day slavery.
At the end of this service year, many youth corpers become jobless and are left to face the reality of life and the labour market on their own. This is unfair. The only true usefulness of this program is during the election period, on the contrary during these periods, and from past happenings, these adults are exposed to a very high risk of violence and in many cases death. How inhumane can we be if we continue to act blind and turn a deaf ear to these realities? Let’s call a spade a spade, NYSC has become a total waste of time.
Consequently, I will be unreasonable to suggest to have the program scrapped ( the national body has tried to scrap it anyway), this is because few of the aims of the program include; To establish a united, strong and self-reliant nation, to establish a great and dynamic economy and to create a land of bright and full opportunities for all citizens. How then can we redirect the stray course of this national youth program? How then can we reassure ourselves that the contribution and objectives of this program brings about self and national development, how can ensure that the future (youths) of this great nation are secured?. There is the reality of economic hardship across the nation at the moment, we need to re-sit, rethink, and re-plan our strategies in navigating the nation onto the direction of prosperity and unity. This is still very achievable, not solely with the NYSC program but as a stepping stone to the greater things we hope to achieve in the nearest future.
My suggestion which is open to criticism by the way and reviews; Convert the NYSC program focus to agriculture. Before the discovery of oil, agriculture was Nigeria’s largest export and was a wealthy sector contributing largely to the national foreign exchange. Now oil prices are crashing, oil wells are drying up, we need to create an alternative means of income for the nation - Agriculture. How then will the NYSC program help boost the agricultural sector?
Yearly we have hundreds of thousands of corpers being posted to different states to serve their father land. This restructuring should task each state with establishing a farming camp for a branch of agriculture i.e livestock or plants and in a certain produce that best fits their geographical location (coca, pepper, cows, pigs, poultry etc), at this camps permanent and ad-hoc staffs, trainers and supervisors will be hired for the smooth operation of this camps (employment), Residential quarters will be built on these camps as well, now as a corper, just after your orientation camp, you will be posted to one of the camps across the nation to begin your service year. This does not in any way affect the present regular activities of the NYSC program, the only difference is instead of being posted to the classroom, or to a government establishment or being hired by a private company as a modern day slave, you are being posted to the farm to feed the nation.
The result of this will be huge for the nation. It will leave those initial places being occupied by corpers vacant for real employment of jobless graduates walking the streets also this will boost the gross income of the nation as agricultural products being produced by Nigeria will be on the increase with more than 1000%. These corpers will be groomed on farm management, marketing, accounting, operation etc, and will also actively participate in the production process, with the number of corpers serving at any particular time and the number of camps across the nation, many corpers will pass out from these camps and will be motivated to establish individual farms of their own. Loans should be made available to these corpers who may wish to go into farming after passing out from the NYSC program. Produce from these camps would feed the entire nation and also create export goods for the country.

There are over 200 million people in Nigeria at the moment, how many farmers do we have at the moment feeding these people? We cannot meet up with the present demand of the nation this is why we keep importing what we can produce. I discovered while doing a research on this piece that over 90% of Nigeria land mass is arable and suitable to plant any kind of food produce, why then are we still importing these produce. I think this is a good initiative that the government should look into and see how they can make this work and put these corpers into proper use rather than risking their lives and wasting their time.
Thank you. Please drop your opinion and feel free to add ideas that will make this initiative more effective.

Lalasticlala Seun mynd44

Finally, who says the government does not listen. Check this out please

Seun
Mynd44
Lalasticlala

Few weeks back I wrote an open letter to the government, this open letter was initially written to the presidency about a year ago by my father, but just like my father's letter, my open letter was ignored, not just by the government but by all who came across this letter.

Today, I am proud to say that our suggestions towards restructuring the NYSC programme has been considered and is on the verge of being implemented by the President Buhari administration.

I feel so over joyed by this to know that the government is still open to ideas and innovation, I have no idea if it is my open letter or my Father's letter that promotes this action, but I feel so glad to see that the government foresees the opportunity in this towards national development.

Thank you Mr. President. This is a welcomed development.