The mandatory service here in my beloved country Nigeria is called National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and it's a scheme that almost every graduate in Nigeria anticipates to engage in because it's a thing of joy for us all and likewise for our parents to see us service our fatherland.
NYSC was established in the year 1973 to foster unity among the citizens. It's a scheme mainly for those that graduated from accredited polytechnics or universities and are below 30 years of age.
Anyone that has gone above this age limit when he/she graduated will have to apply for an exemption letter this will indicate that the person can't serve due to age barrier. So the exemption letter will now serve as the person's NYSC certificate whenever he or she needs it for employment purposes.
NYSC is a mandatory service that requires the deployment of every graduate to any part of the 36 states of the federation including the Federal Capital Territory (Abuja). The duration of the service is just for a year and in the process, the government will pay corp members allowances every month and if you are lucky enough your state of deployment or workplace (PPA) might also give you a stipend to add to the federal allowances.
To be honest, I would say the scheme shouldn't be scrapped because it's a very nice scheme that had and is still benefiting a lot of people till date. It's a scheme that helps youth to see beyond their university certificate and think of what they can do with their talents if at all they were unable to secure white collar jobs immediately after the service year.
After registration and call up, all prospective corp members will go for 3 weeks camping with vigorously training at various camp sites located at all states of the federation. During the camping, you are fed 3 square meals and also learn a whole lot of things that requires your physical and intellectual abilities.
There is something called the SAED program where you will learn handwork and if you wish to continue after camp, you go and learn at a subsidized rate at your various areas of primary assignments.
I'm a witness to this, I started learning tailoring at home before being called for camp, I continued the tailoring in SAED class in camp and also further in it after camp and I enjoyed the subsidized charges rate in Asaba, Delta State where I was being posted to for my primary assignment.
Also NYSC helps to bring together people from various ethnic groups to work together in other to achieve common goals. For instance, I'm from Kwara state (North-central Nigeria) and during my Nysc deployment, I was posted to Delta State (South-South Nigeria).
Being there that time made me know a whole lot of things about their culture and I enjoyed every bit of my stay in Asaba, the Delta State capital. NYSC allows different people to connect and make friends without caring about our various backgrounds.
Furthermore, NYSC helps in developing rural areas where they can contribute to healthcare centers and schools. Deploying corp members to rural areas is really helping a lot, they help in enlighten youths and also share their experiences on life from where they are coming from.
In short, the purposes and benefits of National service can't be overemphasized, that's why I feel it shouldn't be scrapped but the government just needs to work strictly on the improvement in terms of security so that the young graduates won't be send to the lions den in the name of rendering service to their fatherland.
All pictures are mine
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