Yanju Uwala

Many times I keep asking myself if the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) has not deviated from its primary purpose of establishment, which of course is to create a bound between the citizens of the country.

We all know that the scheme was established after the civil war which ended in 1970, and the scheme came up three years after (1973) by the General Yakubu Gowon's regime.

But the activities of the scheme over the years has been of concern to the people, infact no one really have faith in it again, infact, anyone going for it as at present is just going for the sake of necessity, not because of its objectives.

The scheme is now seen as a "scam" and this is because of various activities going on within the scheme which I will justify in this piece, I understood the basics of the scheme but of course, it has failed to deliver on this premise and this is now making people not have trust in it again.

We can remember the certificate forgery case of former Finance minister, Kemi Adeosun, and the role NYSC played before she eventually resigned herself from the cabinet. Indeed, NYSC knew the certificate was forged but they could not talk straight on it, rather they said that they will be investigating the "purported" certificate and it rather took them days, weeks and months to unravel the mystery behind the forged certificate, even though she left on her own, without any response from the scheme.

This has of course called for concern, especially when the Chairman, Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), Professor Itse Sagay, said that the scheme is of no relevance again, as far he's concerned, and that there is nothing bad if one doesn't engage in it. One should have understood what made him said this if not for the present state the scheme is portraying itself to the public.

The NYSC in the recent times have started becoming a tool to strengthen corruption practices in the country. Does that means, it is outliving its usefulness? Graduates under service now pay money to some people to abscond serving, yet they pay these ghost-serving graduates, in which the money is being shared among the duos, also people now redeploy from where they were earlier posted to another place that seems favourable to them, in as much cash is involved, no problem.

Another scenario just played out again recently on the credibility of the scheme, the issue of Yusuf Buhari, the son of President Muhammadu Buhari, which of course needs to be cleared. How can he passed out since he's a Batch C corp member, and yet passed out with the Batch A set. This really needs to be unraveled.

If we all remember that this same Yusuf Buhari had a motorbike accident in December, 2017 and was admitted in Cedacrest Hospital in Abuja, however he was discharged from the hospital on January 12, 2018 and flown to abroad for further treatment. He came back to the country, March 1, 2018 and he began his NYSC scheme, 11 months after the accident, even after graduating from the University of Surrey, UK, two years ahead.

So as at December, 2018, when Batch C were in their orientation camp, he was also with them at the Kubwa orientation camp, Abuja. So how come other Batch C corps members has not passed out and he has passed out? This is very intriguing.

The NYSC scheme is a platform to inculcate social values into the life of Nigerian youths but what we keep getting is the opposite, what could have been the reasons, are there no responsive way to find a solution, or do we go along the lines it's being played, if yes, then we are yet to tell ourselves we are building a nation.

Well, I don't want to believe that the scheme is a scam as it been portrayed all over the places especially among corps members but at same time, the scheme needs to wash out it's hands from the shady deal of whatever it might be involving itself.

Its necessary before it's too late.

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