When the then Military Head of State of Nigeria, Gen Yakubu Gowon conceived the vision of establishing the NYSC Scheme in 1973, he was generally applauded by Nigerians and beyond.
The scheme, he said, was to foster national unity and cohesion among Nigerians, especially the youths.
Again, coming out from a bloody civil war that consumed millions of lives of Nigerian citizens, the vision for setting up the NYSC Scheme was further broadened to include reconstruction, reconciliation and rebuilding the country.
From the earliest stages of the NYSC Scheme, these ideals were adhered to strictly. NYSC members were seen and regarded as ambassadors of the country and states of their origin. They were petted and pampered by all and this treatment brought the best out of the corpers.
There were records where corps members sank boreholes, built bus-stops, embarked on rural electrification projects, among several other lofty projects in the country.
But all of these are now history, no thanks to insecurity, insurgency, banditry, kidnapping and other mindless attacks on NYSC members.
This senseless and mindless attacks on NYSC members became more pronounced in 2009, when Boko Haram, an Islamist and jihadist group reared its ugly head into the landscape of Nigeria’s socio-political, cultural and even economic spheres of the country’s history.
Like a film, or a dream, the nation watched in disbelief, while the activities of Boko Haram took a centre stage in the affairs of the once peaceful and harmonious country, ripping it apart in few years.
As visitors, or better put strangers in the place of their primary assignments, the NYSC members suddenly became major targets with attendant casualties to insurgency.
It was estimated that countless number of corpers have been kidnapped, maimed and even killed in several parts of the country, especially the violence prone North Eastern and North Western Nigeria.
Whenever there was security emergency in the states where NYSC members were serving, their fate hung in the balance. Their host communities were said to abandon the young enterprising professionals
It is in this light, that some well-meaning Nigerians have called for the scrapping of the NYSC Scheme. In fact, a bill sponsored by the Honourable Member Representing Andoni-Opobo/Nkoro Federal Constituency at the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly, Hon. Inombek Abiante called for and sponsored a bill for outright scrapping of the NYSC Scheme. This bill scaled through to second reading, before it was killed by the Green Chambers.
In as much as we may not be joining forces to call for outright scrapping of the NYSC Scheme, it is an open secret that all is not well with this national initiative.
A situation where all the criminal elements target the corpers, who they perceive as hapless and helpless.
Instead of according them the respect and regards, these undesirable elements now see the Corpers as softspots that can easily be conquered. One can agree this is far from the vision of the founding fathers that mooted the idea of the NYSC Scheme.
Surely, former Military Head of State, Gen Yakubu Gowon (Rtd), who initiated the scheme cannot beat his chest today and say that the once treasured scheme is doing well.
Therefore if adequate protection cannot be guaranteed the NYSC members in their places of primary assignments, the scheme had better be scrapped.
According to the law of safety, if you cannot work safely, you better don’t work at all. Reason being that a single unsafe act can result to Loss Time Incidence (LTI), which will in turn consume manhour, property and lives.
No matter how lofty the idea of setting up the NYSC Scheme may look, if adequate security cannot be provided for the participants, talking about the Corps members, then the best alternative is to jettison the programme.