Respondents back proposed review of NYSC scheme
THE proposed review of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme is a lofty idea, Nigerians have said.
In the current edition of The Guardian Opinion Poll (GOP), respondents lauded the objective of the exercise.
Under the proposed reform, corps members will spend three months in the orientation camp, instead of the current three weeks, to enable them acquire practical skills and lessons in leadership training and governance.
Corps members will also enjoy an upward review of their allowances.
Respondents were asked: "Do you support the proposed NYSC review?"
According to the result of the poll conducted among 2,685 respondents drawn from the six geo-political zones of the federation, a cumulative of 2,029, representing about 76 per cent, answered in the affirmative.
Another 345 respondents, or 13 per cent, were opposed to the reform, while about 10 per cent were ambivalent on the issue.
On a zonal analysis, South-West topped the list of those in support of the reform with 80 per cent, South-South followed with 79 per cent, North-Central 77, South-East, North-West and North-East polled 74, 71 and 70 per cent.
The special centres of Abuja and Lagos polled 79 and 78 per cent.
Reacting to another question that called for suggestions or other changes to make the scheme more beneficial to participants, the respondents said that a minimum standard of comfort should be arranged for the corps members.
To 32 per cent of the respondents, issues bothering on corps members' welfare and safety should be of paramount importance to the authorities.
However, about 18 per cent were of the view that corps members that have successfully served their fatherland should be entitled to automatic employment after the service year.
It was also the opinion of about two per cent that military training be made compulsory.
Another four per cent advocated for either upward or downward review of the duration of the service year.
When the scheme was introduced in 1973, a lot of people commended it, moreso, when its primary objective was to heal the wounds of the civil war.
To achieve this, young graduates of institutions of higher learning are to leave their states of origin for another state to serve for 12 months.
To encourage these youths, some kind of allowances were paid to them monthly by the Federal Government. These have been motivating young graduates to participate in the exercise.
However, the NYSC scheme has now assumed another dimension. Since the early 1990s, it has become obvious that the scheme needed to be restructured to make it more relevant and result-oriented.
