President Goodluck Jonathan recently upheld one of the remarkable traditions of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) when he approved automatic employment for 164 past winners of the President’s NYSC Honours Awards. The beneficiaries received the good news at the Awards ceremony which held at the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa in Abuja. The corps members, who were drawn from the 2012, 2013 and 2014 batches of the scheme, were honoured for their selfless service to the country during their service years.
The president also approved scholarships for post-graduate studies up to the doctorate degree level for the beneficiaries. Most significantly, however, another group of nine former corps members from the 2013 batch who suffered injuries and became physically-challenged were given cash awards totalling N23.5 million and job offers under the auspices of the innovative scheme, NYSC Hope Alive Initiative, recently instituted by the NYSC Director-General, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawunmi.
The NYSC Presidential Awards scheme is one of the ways through which the Federal Government recognises and rewards the efforts of fresh graduates who distinguish themselves during each service year. It is one of the ways through which the nation reaches out to youths and points them in the way of selfless service to their fatherland. We recall that it was such good reasoning that partly led to the establishment of the scheme in 1973 in the aftermath of the bitter civil war that the nation fought between 1967 and 1970.
We commend the president for honouring the tradition of giving automatic employment to the winners of these awards, and offering them scholarships. The step has, at least, taken 164 graduates off the list of jobless persons in the country. However, we enjoin the president to institute more comprehensive schemes to create jobs for the rising number of jobless graduates.
We also commend the NYSC helmsman, Brig.-Gen. Johnson Olawunmi, for introducing the Hope Alive Initiative scheme under which nine corps members who became physically-challenged during the 2013 service year were given cash awards of N1.5 million each by Heritage Bank, with additional N5 million for all of them by the Akwa Ibom State government. These start-up capital grants, and the decision of the president to extend the offer of automatic employment to them, are, indeed, worthy of commendation. It is a great succour for the now physically-disabled ex-corps members who had, in past dispensations, been largely left to fend for themselves. We encourage other corporate organisations to borrow a leaf from these initiatives and show more interest in youth corps members as part of their social responsibility activities.
This Awards ceremony also offers yet another opportunity to focus on the continuing relevance of the NYSC. There is no doubt that the scheme has served the nation well. What is, however, required now is a boosting of the initiative to make it further serve the objective of national integration. It should be made to better achieve the purpose of acquainting fresh graduates with the vast cultures of our country and building a sense of oneness of the country.
If Nigerians in the different geo-political zones of the country are to ever see and love themselves as Nigerians first, before thinking of the part of the country that they have come from, the NYSC scheme is one of the ways by which we can make this possible.
The scheme is, however, facing a lot of challenges today. Key, among these, is the shortage of spaces for primary assignments. In addition, many host communities and places of primary assignment now regard corps members as a burden. This has put many corps members in harm’s way in the past. The scheme, indeed, needs the support of every Nigerian to achieve its objectives.
That is why even if the Presidential Awards may be regarded as a mere token in the face of the rampaging graduate unemployment in the country, the import of the gesture must not be lost.
The nation must use every opportunity to say thank you to this category of future leaders and reassure them and those who are helping to ameliorate their problems that their efforts are appreciated. The present challenge is for our leaders to design and implement fresh strategies to ensure the sustenance and enhancement of the scheme.
We congratulate the beneficiaries of the these awards and urge other youths to emulate their commitment to selfless since which won them the recognition. Let all hands be on deck in the effort to create more jobs for youths to stem the tide of unemployment in the country.
