What happened? Where did we miss it again? The trend I am witnessing is disgustingly irksome. It is nauseating to see corps members, fresh out of camp, scurry the lengths and breadths of cities in their unsavory and substandard khakis like rats searching the sewers for cheese. What is this? All I keep hearing is this: “I was rejected by the organisation NYSC sent me to; I am trying to get a PPA.” For months, graduates float and drift in cities where they cannot even secure accommodation. For the privileged ones, their parents go through the financial troubles of raising money for accommodation so that their children will not sleep on the streets.
Today, people do all sorts just to get PPAs for children. Parents lobby, call friends and associates and some even pay for their wards to be attached to an organisation for that one year period. Many are the woes of this nation and I have learnt to be stoic about them all. I have trained myself to develop a thick skin and I have quit my lamentations but I bet posterity will not forgive me if I do not cry foul over this situation. I see them every day; they line the streets, sweating profusely in their unsightly uniforms and my skin just crawls. How irresponsible, ineffective, inefficient and rotten the scheme has become? No one wants a ‘corper’ and this is death sentence for the not-so-privileged ones, whose mommies or daddies cannot make calls to secure their placements in choice PPAs. They either get swindled sexually or financially, depending on their gender.
In today’s Nigeria, getting a PPA is synonymous to being on the over saturated labour market, searching for the jobs that are not even there! It is fast becoming a wild goose chase, a white elephant project and a waste of precious time! I have heard tales of serving corps members who stayed home for months after being rejected by organisations. I bet the pioneers of the scheme never envisaged that a time such as this would come.
When I was a little girl, I looked forward to the year I would become eligible to answer the clarion call and render service to my fatherland. I dreamt of service because of the beautiful tales the elders told…stories of integration, hospitality, care and predominantly of the tightly knitted Nigerian kindred spirit even in diversity. They shared stories of sweet deracination, devoid of any form of pain and hardship. They spoke of inclusiveness and imbibing alien cultures. They shared reminiscent tales of the first times they, tried a strange traditional dish, dance and many of them brought home alien love…
That was the imagery the pioneers enacted decades ago. The objectives of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme were clearly spelt out in Decree No.51 of 16th June 1993 constitution as follows:
To inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work, and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves
To raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by giving them the opportunity to learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement
To develop in the Nigerian youths, the attitudes of mind, acquired through shared experience and suitable training which will make them more amenable to mobilisation in the national interest.
To enable Nigerian youths acquire the spirit of self reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self employment.
To contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy
To develop common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration
To remove prejudices, eliminate ignorance and confirm at first hand the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups
To develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the people of Nigeria
The equitable distribution of members of the service corps and the effective utilisation of their skills in area of national needs
That as far as possible, youths are assigned to jobs in States other than their States of origin
That such group of youths assigned to work together is as representative of Nigeria as far as possible
That the Nigerian youths are exposed to the modes of living of the people in different parts of Nigeria
That the Nigerian youths are encouraged to eschew religious intolerance by accommodating religious differences
That members of the service corps are encouraged to seek at the end of their one year national service, career employment all over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labour
That employers are induced partly through their experience with members of the service corps to employ more readily and on a permanent basis, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin.
Harrowingly, the tides have turned today and the scheme, in all sincerity, has lost its essence. The objectives are far from being achieved, as a good percentage of service members that are found in core South-West zones, for instance are indigenes of the zones who attended higher institutions within the same. Same goes for the North. So, where is the place of integration in the scheme?
If corps members cannot even get PPAs, how can they, according to the objective of the scheme, get jobs after the scheme? I have always fanned the embers for the dissolution of this scheme. Really, it has lost its seasoning like bad salt and has, for too long, been, like the male pawpaw tree, barren! What is the point of this national charade? Are we not tired of flogging this dead horse? How long shall we continue slaying the slain?
and then