Don’t scrap NYSC over insecurity – Ogun lawyer tells FG

…Lawyer seeks safer deployment, regionalisation as interim measure

A legal practitioner in Ogun State and former Vice Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Ijebu-Ode Branch, Moruff Balogun, has urged the Federal Government not to scrap the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, over growing security concerns surrounding the scheme.

Balogun, in an article titled, “Why NYSC Should Not Be Scrapped,” acknowledged concerns over the safety of prospective corps members following recent abductions on their way to orientation camps.

He, however, argued that scrapping the scheme would amount to “throwing away the baby with the bathwater,” insisting that the government should instead reform, adequately fund and strengthen the security architecture around the programme.

“No Nigerian should lose sight of the fact that young graduates who are called upon to serve their country must be protected by the same country they are being asked to serve,” he said.

The debate over the future of the NYSC was renewed following the recent abduction of prospective corps members travelling to orientation camps.

Balogun said the incident should serve as a wake-up call for the government to address security gaps in the scheme rather than abandon what he described as one of Nigeria’s few effective instruments of national integration.

Tracing the establishment of the NYSC to 1973, in the aftermath of the Nigerian Civil War, Balogun said the scheme was created to promote national reconciliation, reconstruction and integration.

According to him, those objectives remain relevant more than five decades later, particularly amid heightened ethnic, religious and regional sentiments across the country.

He said the NYSC gives young Nigerians the opportunity to live and work outside their familiar ethnic, religious and geographical environments.

“A graduate from Lagos could be deployed to Sokoto, while one from Kano could serve in Enugu,” he said, adding that graduates from different parts of the country could find themselves living and working in unfamiliar regions.

“For many participants, this is their first sustained opportunity to live among Nigerians from a completely different cultural environment,” he said.

Balogun said the experience of living together in orientation camps, where corps members eat, train and participate in social and community development activities, helps to break down ethnic and cultural barriers.

He added that relationships formed during the service year often continued beyond the programme, resulting in marriages, business partnerships, professional relationships and friendships among Nigerians from different parts of the country.

“These are intangible benefits that cannot easily be captured in a government budget,” he said.

The former NBA official also identified patriotism, discipline, responsibility and national consciousness as values promoted by the scheme.

While acknowledging that not every participant would emerge as a “perfect patriot,” he argued that national identity was built gradually through shared experiences.

“National identity is built incrementally, through shared experiences,” he said.

Calls for security overhaul

Balogun, however, said defending the NYSC should not mean ignoring its shortcomings, particularly the security risks confronting corps members and prospective participants.

He said the recent abduction of prospective corps members, who were reportedly rescued after seven days in captivity, underscored the need for stronger security measures around the scheme.

While commending the government and security agencies for their efforts in securing the victims’ release, he sympathised with their families.

He said the incident should be “a wake-up call for government to fund, reform and secure the scheme more effectively,” rather than a justification for its abolition.

As an interim measure in areas affected by insecurity, Balogun proposed regionalising NYSC deployment, subject to security assessments.

Under such an arrangement, he said, corps members could be deployed primarily within relatively secure geographical regions while the government worked to improve the country’s overall security situation.

He stressed, however, that regional deployment should be temporary and should not permanently undermine the national character of the scheme.

“The ultimate objective should remain the restoration of a Nigeria in which a graduate can safely travel from one part of the country to another to serve his or her fatherland,” he said.

Balogun also called for improved intelligence gathering, secure transportation for corps members, enhanced security at orientation camps, regular security assessments of deployment locations, effective emergency response mechanisms and stronger coordination between NYSC authorities and security agencies.

“No corps member should be deployed to a location that government itself considers too dangerous,” he said.

Wants NYSC modernised

Beyond security, Balogun called for the modernisation of the NYSC to reflect contemporary economic and technological realities.

He advocated greater emphasis on skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, digital technology, healthcare, education, agriculture and community development.

He also urged the government to strengthen the Community Development Service component of the scheme to ensure that corps members leave measurable and sustainable benefits in their host communities.

“If we scrap NYSC because insecurity has made national integration difficult, what other national institution will replace it?” he asked.

Balogun warned that abandoning national deployment altogether could encourage Nigerians to remain within their ethnic or regional “comfort zones” until security conditions improve, potentially deepening the divisions that national integration programmes are designed to address.

He called for the NYSC to be reviewed, restructured, better funded and made significantly safer, with deployment arrangements adjusted where prevailing security conditions warranted such measures.

“But scrapping NYSC would be a grave mistake,” he said.

Balogun said the scheme had created “friendships, marriages, professional networks, business relationships and, perhaps most importantly, a practical understanding that Nigeria belongs to all of us.”

He urged the Federal Government to pursue reform, improved security and renewal rather than abolition.

“The answer to the challenges facing NYSC is therefore not abolition. The answer is reform, security and renewal,” he said.