I’m still reeling from the circumstances leading to the #EndSARS protests and all the unfortunate developments since. The protests have been followed by reports of intimidation, impunity, and illegalities by the governments against innocent individual targets, which leaves little to be expected in terms of resolution, justice, and restitution. In an effort to find some sort of closure, I wanted to at least get a picture of what the government’s central Youth Agenda is. There’s a responsible ministry specifically for “Youth and Sports Development”, so I figured that’ll be a good place to start. 

In 2019, the Ministry had a budget of N126 billion (about $335m). For a country with 80% of the population under 40 and over 65% under 30, it’s clear that the budget will be hard to stretch. With the understanding that the country is poor and more money should be spent on basics like primary education and healthcare, security and infrastructure, the figure is forgivable and one would expect that the admin simply tries to expend N126bn into programmes with proven broad impact. 

Of the N126bn allocated to the Ministry, N116bn or over 90% was for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program. By law, everybody seeking to hold certain positions in the public and private sector must pass through the scheme. The Ministry is essentially setup almost entirely to run NYSC. Every year, about 300,000 graduates across the country are mobilized into the paramilitary program and posted to random locations across the country, first for a three week military-style but game-showey camp, followed by a year of posting to a location for “primary assignment”. Some 4.6 million graduates have participated in the scheme since its inception in 1973. In listing its benefits, NYSC’s Director-General stated that it has:

“Achieved so much in fostering unity and contributing to national development over the years.”

“Contributed to strengthening healthcare delivery through posting of corps members to public hospitals as paramedics” and

“Educational development of the country has been positively impacted through the posting of corps members to schools”

The DG and proponents of the program generally simply echo the scheme’s original objectives listed here, which include fostering national unity and integration, patriotism, loyalty, imbibing discipline, etc.

Almost 50 years into the scheme–the central youth development program for Nigerians since independence–it is hard to imagine the youth demographic in a worse general position. Unemployment, educational attainment, economic power, social cohesion, civic engagement, social security, and individual tolerance all measure at the extremely disturbing end of the scale, and it appears to be getting progressively worse since 1973. 

There’s no hard evidence from empirical data or broad observation that points to the conclusion that the NYSC scheme is a positive endeavor relative to its opportunity cost. 

A common argument for the program is that the diverse Nigerian population are compelled to mingle and interact with each other, thereby learning and becoming more tolerant about their differences. It is clear now that it is simplistic to assume that mere exposure to differences will foster understanding and tolerance. Nationhood is a contract that every participant needs to voluntarily subscribe to and freely navigate. The social contract is defined by a constitution and laws that apply to everyone equally, and sub-national agenda must always be subordinate. Where a different standard is meted on a group in favor of another, mere exposure to each other will more likely amplify strife and social distance. Unity by fiat is a mirage; people need to navigate their relationships organically, motivated by incentives and personal utility. The nationhood contract should remove any barriers to such organic integration like “place of origin” in applications or elections, and the rule of law governing things like land rights must be uniform.

Also, tolerance is learned early. Culture and religious orientation determine how accepting one is of others that are different. A “live and let live” attitude will not be developed in the mid-20s simply because of brief exposure to something different. 

The posting of youth corps members on one-year assignments to schools and primary healthcare centers is a cosmetic solution that might actually have a causal effect on the lack of quality of primary academic and healthcare infrastructure. If schools and clinics have to rely on untrained, unmotivated, and temporary staff, it is difficult to expect any positive long-term outcomes for the key stakeholders. There is little incentive for local authorities to build institutional capacity, there is no continuity of processes, and there is no standard for competence and quality. If you survey the local authorities or dwellers, they might argue on the contrary, but that is only in the face of a lack of alternatives! To them, based on internalized experiences of neglect, it’s either corps members or nothing. Many students in favor of the programs also fear the high chances of graduate unemployment and would like a year of the hard-earned minimum-wage buffer to figure out how to escape the magnetic poverty. This is a consequence of a terrible situation, not a fix. 

On the part of the private sector, organizations simply exploit and underpay graduates for a year before deciding whether or not they should be retained or recycled. There is no data to show how the NYSC improves graduate placement, what percentage of youth corps members are retained by their private-sector employers, or what percentage decides to stay and integrate into locations far away from home. Isolated anecdotes like “I met my wife in camp” or “I was able to save for a year” are really micro-level data that mean nothing on aggregate. 

There has to be a better way to engage graduates than 3 weeks of paramilitary boot camps (which is honestly just a major health and security hazard serving almost no real physical or mental utility to the participants) followed by one year of compelled national service. The government simply cannot sustainably employ every graduate for one year at minimum wage without 50 years of empirical evidence validating the tangible benefits of incurring that cost. 

The NYSC scheme has about the same budget as the Universal Basic Education Commission (although N13bn of NYSC funds go to kits and feeding) and the country is broke, so the usefulness of the program must be at the forefront of debates. The Ministry HQ with its nearly N2bn personnel cost and the Citizen and Leadership Training Centre (which should be scrapped, whatever that is, with its N1bn personnel cost) must have something better to do than simply administer the NYSC program year in year out. Other ministries like Water Resources also throw in random budget lines worth between N40-100m for NYSC-related expenses. 

— What would an additional N126bn annually do to the colleges and universities the students are graduating from in terms of improving the quality of education and graduate outcomes, or to orientation programs at the primary education level for social cohesion?

— What would an optional, industry-inspired NYSC structure look like, perhaps with a pay-to-opt-out model? Many students have objectively better and more economically productive things to do upon graduation than deliver poor teaching or push paper and donate statues in a remote village for a year. Many students who can afford it evade it anyway with “arrangements”. 

— Could scrapping NYSC be part of holistic tertiary education and work reform where universities become autonomous and compete for students based on standards, which will serve the purpose of improving national cohesion as students compete to go to the best universities wherever they are in the country? Students are more likely able to understand other cultures over the 4 years as young classmates and roommates. Could the government also stop subsidizing tertiary education so students pay fair value for tuition supported by a government loan and scholarship program?

— If everything is going the wrong direction, can we have the courage to consider something major (like NYSC) differently? 

It’s insanity to keep doing and pretending to be succeeding at the same thing for 50 years. It’s perhaps time to really consider letting go of this remnant of our military past.