The Crab Talk about Scraping the NYSC

NYSC members on parade

As far back as 1993 when I was a corps member, there was this suggestion by some colleagues that the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) should be scraped. 

The sad truth is that the suggestion often comes from the naive juveniles, just coming out of the university or an equivalent institution. A lot of them are actually in a hurry to show that, now that they are educated, it is about time they showed how intellectual they are. The discussion is, thus, considered by such youths as a platform on which to show how intellectual they have become.

There is freedom of speech, no doubt, but some expressions that are tolerated on grounds of freedom of speech are so jarring that they hit one with the impact of treason. The fact is: the financial burden of sustaining the NYSC is not on the shoulders of those who criticize its existence. The worst such interlocutors should do is to ask that the scheme be made optional: if you don’t like it, other people like it.

In October, 2015, something carried me to the vicinity of the NYSC Orientation Camp on the road to Mangu, in Plateau State. The spontaneous question that came to my mind was: “So, Nigeria pays all these people?” The scheme causes the nation a huge financial commitment and scraping it should have been a relief to the Federal Government of Nigeria, but since the Federal Government knows the benefit of the scheme to the nation, it is the reason why no government ever contemplated doing away with it.

These are the reasons why I think the scheme must last till eternity. First, I served in Benin, Edo state. Prior to going to Benin, the photo of the city in my mind was rife with armed bandits going round and making the lives of innocent people miserable. This impression was a result of the story of the notorious armed robber, Lawrence Anini, who terrorized the city of Benin and infused fear across the nation in the 1980s. Thanks to the national youth service. It was the reason why I went to Benin and discovered Benin was not exactly what we thought it was.

By the fact of its diversity, Nigeria is a complex country with a spectrum of cultures. There is the tendency to see a people as alien, or to not understand them, when you haven’t the opportunity to live with them. This reality feeds the absence of rhyme between the tribes and threatens the unity of the nation. Some critics of the NYSC scheme are actually persons who hate the country as a unit. Traveling to another part of the country, living and enjoying its hospitality help you to appreciate the people. This helps to fade the lines that divide us, the line that makes us relate to ourselves as strangers. On my return to Plateau State, I felt homesick anytime there was the mention of “Benin” on the Network News. I will remember Ring Road, Ekenwa Road, Third East Circular Road, Akpakpava Street, Ikpoba Hill, etc.

Part of the objective of the NYSC scheme is to prepare the youths for a life of their own, ending their dependence on their parents. I attended University in my native state . So, I was always by the bosom of my parents. Truly speaking, the NYSC to break away from the dependence on my parents. Eventually, I came to cherish the flip side, when I started reaching out to help my parents. Many corps members, as a matter of fact, continue their lives in the state where they served, having learned how to live independently.

The NYSC has inspired a lot of people to acquire higher education. There are people who would say “I must wear those uniforms.” To them, wearing the NYSC uniforms represents a milestone they must accomplish in life. Since what qualifies one to take part in the NYSC is a University degree or its equivalent, the scheme became the lure that pushed many to acquire higher education, something that we need if we must build the beautiful country that God has given us.

 Education is not just about professional knowledge. Education is a mindset that helps you to understand the world better. It would be an irony to claim to be educated and demonstrate ignorance of your country. Coincidentally, traveling happened to be part of my hobbies. I love traveling because it affords me the prospect of understanding the world, its different people and their cultures. The diversity of our world is what makes it a kaleidoscope, a source of beauty that brings calm to our minds. After my national youth service, I later traveled and lived in other parts of the country. Since then, I have known and spoken about the country with more maturity. So, the NYSC is the beginning of understanding the world. 

Critics of the NYSC did site the death of corps members during the post-election violence in 2011 as one reason why the scheme should have been dead and buried. The death of those corps members is highly deplorable and we must guard against such, in future, but it shouldn’t be the reason why the NYSC should be done away with. The death of those corps members was an outcome of our general recklessness as Nigerians. This is what we need to do away with.

We are multi-ethnic, but must strive to be uni-cultural. The NYSC is one road that leads us in the direction of realizing this goal.  

I love China, but I'm Afraid of Betrayal

Ninety-nine per cent of my time watching TV is spent on Chinese Central Television, CCTV. This has changed my fundamentally Kungfu Image of China, helping me to appreciate the much-talked about Chinese prosperity and seeing how modern, China is. In addition to this, I have also come to watch, closely, the relationship between China and Nigeria. I can say that what obtains between China and Nigeria is reflective of the relationship between China and Sub-Saharan Africa, by-and-large. 

Each time Nigeria has a new leader, the West try to get as close as possible, showing its willingness to support his administration and help harness the growth potential there is in the country. It is believed that prosperity in Nigeria would serve as a train, conveying prosperity to the rest of the continent. While western nations play the umpire, China stands watching, hands folded. This is referred to as The Non-Interference Policy. I find this policy position itchy.  

Sadly, the Nigerian political climate is designed to give political leaders disproportionate power over the common man. This power is largely abused to the detriment of the common man. This is why common people need the voices of the most powerful nations of the world to nudge our leaders and compel them to be humane in their official personas. The Non-Interference Policy is synonymous to a neighbor who prefers to fold his hands and watch while an inferno consumes your house. The implication of the Non-Interference Policy of China to Nigeria means that if China was to be the only powerful nation, the excesses of our leaders would have been boundless. I think that the Non-Interference Policy takes away fidelity from the big Asian. 

Across Nigeria, Chinese goods have largely displaced goods from all other oversea nations. The Sino goods are attractive, ‘affordable’, but of abysmal qualities. So abysmal are their qualities that one could describe Chinese goods as The Dracula, day-by-day sucking the nation of its blood until it is utterly drained. You buy an item today, two weeks later it begins to malfunction, compelling you to buy again. So you live your life buying one item a hundred times, when you should have bought a better quality five times during a lifetime.  Most of the goods hardly come with warranties, compelling one to belief that the manufacturers are conscious of the unpredictability of their goods. My impression is that whatever China offers Africa in foreign aid is usually withdrawn by Dracula trade in just days.

There is a place in Lagos called China Town. It is home to Chinese Small Scale Businesses in Nigeria. Sadly, they flourish on piracy of intellectual property of struggling Nigerians and the rest of the world. I have listened to news from Ghana about Chinese “investors” illegally mining gold and causing problems to the Ghanaian nation. In Nigeria and Ghana, we don’t hear about Americans violating intellectual property rights or getting involved in any form of dealing that hurts the host nation. 

When China talks about its policy of sitting on the fence, the impression it creates is that it intends to set a new record ahead of the West, whose policies are loathed only by the looming figures of Nigerian leaders, but embraced by ordinary Nigerians. The Chinese authorities have a window with which it communicates with the rest of the world. This window is the CCTV. CCTV works to educate the rest of the world about the Chinese nation and its people, but also to educate its own people about the rest of the world.  I, however, see signs that give Africans reasons to vacillate each time China opens its arms. This is because there seems to be a conscious and frantic effort to ensure that Chinese people are not properly educated about black Africa. CCTV camera lenses seem to focus only on dirty corners of the continent. Abuja, for instance, is a modest but sparkling city. Each time CCTV broadcasts a report from Abuja, though, I do not see that brilliance that has made the city the pride of Nigerians. Often, I am left sad. Based on CCTV footages of the city, one would conclude that Abuja is an indistinct city.

If the Western Press had failed in giving its citizens a balanced photo of the continent, it is expected that the Chinese nation would learn from it and avoid repetition of the same mistakes. Sadly, though, CCTV (and, by implication, China) seems to view this mistake as one that must be made if a nation must become powerful.

It has often been said that dirty corners makes and sells news. But CCTV is not an organization that was set up to generate income for the Chinese nation. If it is so, then the aim of educating the people within and outside of China will not be attained.   

One phrase that has become popular in China these days is “soft power”.  Soft power is the influence that one has by virtue of his appeal and persuasion of others. This is what makes America the most powerful nation on earth. The idea of soft power is a relevant topic because the Chinese are aware they need it if they most change the global political order that makes America the most powerful nation on earth. If there is distrust of China in Africa, perhaps China would rise to become the most powerful economic nation, but not the most politically powerful. 

I envy Chinese prosperity. It would, however, be incomplete if Africa feels it was unfairly drained of its resources and reputation. After all, Africa is the cradle of mankind.