The statement by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos State that the National Youth Service Corps scheme keeps alive the dreams of Nigeria’s founding fathers is false because no such dreams really ever existed and worse still, the NYSC has become a real mess and waste of scare resources.
The NYSC has completely lost its relevance and has become a tool of affliction and distress for Nigeria’s elite youths who, at the prime of their lives, are left disillusioned during their service year.
To subject youths who have gone through a minimum of 16 years of education, many at great cost to families and communities, to this harrowing experience at the start of their graduate life is wickedness in high places.
A majority of them are posted to areas where they experience accommodation problems and then faced with the challenges of finding places of primary assignment.