Speaking at the 50th-anniversary celebration of the NYSC in Abuja, Jega suggested that the corps should instead be voluntary for graduates with high CGPAs and proper qualifications and that they should be selected for the exercise.
Adequate provisions should also be made, such as funding, facilities, and mentorship, to enable them to function well during the service programme. Jega also insisted that if it must be mandatory, all resources and facilities to make it effective and impactful must be provided.
Jega further noted that the remunerations of Corp members were poor, and this was because a huge number of corps members were mobilised into youth service amidst dwindling and inadequacy of resources.
He also highlighted the need for the security of corps members to be taken seriously to end the agitation to scrap the scheme.
Lack of cooperation by some state and local governments who have refused to lend their statutory support to the scheme and fraudulent enlistment of unqualified and/or fake graduates by tertiary institutions in Nigeria were also mentioned by Jega as challenges faced by the scheme.
On the other hand, the Deputy Governor of Oyo State, Adebayo Lawal, believed that the one-year service scheme should remain mandatory. He opined that the existence of the scheme has helped to inculcate discipline in the youths who have passed through the scheme, as well as help to promote unity and development in the country.
Lawal also noted that the scheme has helped to validate the degrees which a lot of dignitaries claimed to have had, stating that most politicians have to be verified by NYSC to ascertain if they actually graduated and served.
The Minister for Youths and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, acknowledged that part of the achievements of the scheme was seen during the lock-down when corps members engaged in the production of preventive materials such as face masks, hand sanitisers, automated hand washing equipment and disinfectants among others and distributed them free to complement government effort in the fight against the virus.
He also noted that “it was a replication of what the NYSC did in rolling back the menace of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the Ebola virus through awareness campaigns which saved our dear country from the ugly experience of other developing countries.”
The Director General of the scheme, Brigadier General Yushau Dogara Ahmed, in his welcome address, stated that the mandate and objectives of the scheme were admired by some other African countries such as Gambia, hence, the scheme helped to establish a “National Youth Service Scheme, modelled after the NYSC, but with a different structure and operational guidelines for them.”
He also outlined five policy thrusts focusing on the welfare and security of both Corps Members and staff, research development, stakeholders’ engagement, capacity development and deepening the impact of Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development as a sustainable means of addressing post-service unemployment.
The debate on whether the NYSC should be made voluntary or remain mandatory continues to be a topic of discussion, with valid points from both sides. However, it is important for the government to consider the welfare and security of corps members, as well as provide adequate resources and facilities to make the scheme effective and impactful, regardless of its mandatory or voluntary nature.