Flingpord

  THE Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, recently reopened the debate on the continued relevance of the National Youth Service Corps scheme. His assertion that the compulsory one-year national service for young Nigerians graduating from higher institutions must stay based on the primary goals of the scheme’s founders represents only one strand of public opinion. In a democracy, all national programmes are subject to discourse. The NYSC cannot be an exception. Officials and others arguing for the retention of the NYSC have their reasons, but so also do the many others who say the programme in its present format has outlived its usefulness and should be retooled in line with current realities. This newspaper aligns strongly with the latter option. Circumstances since the NYSC was launched by the military regime of Yakubu Gowon in 1973 have changed radically. But like its founding fathers, Dare and other promoters are stuck on ideas of “national unity” and see the scheme as a ...