The National Youth Service Corps Schemes in Nigeria

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Snapshot of Nigeria
National Youth Service Corp. Program
Literature Review
Criticism of NYSC
Discussion
Conclusion
References

Introduction

The concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which requires companies to treat all their stakeholders in an ethical and socially responsible manner has gained primacy all over the world in the course of the last two decades. Today, companies are expected to behave responsibly and the number of CSR initiatives has risen significantly as companies seek to become more competitive and foster greater social cohesion.

Emphasize on CSR has been due to the realization that corporate responsibility is necessary if a corporation wants to increase its chances of succeeding. A less known concept is that of National Social Responsibility (NSR) which explores how a nation treats its stakeholders (citizens) in a responsible manner.

Jawahir and Hopkins (2008) lament that while CSR has been implemented aggressively in many countries; most nation states lack social responsibility programs for their citizens who are the key stakeholders of the state. In spite of the poor results in NSR by many states, there have been some NSR programs which have shown great success.

An example of this is the National Youth Service Corps Schemes (NYSC) which is a Nigerian national youth programme that lasts for one year. While the NYSC was originally created as a Peace Keeping initiative, the program has become an instrument of making the youth more socially responsible.

This paper will set out to illustrate the similarities between CSR and the national youth service initiative in Nigeria so as to demonstrate that the NYSC is a successful model of how corporate social responsibility can go national.

Snapshot of Nigeria

Nigeria is a developing country in Africa and it is ranked as the most populous nation in the continent. Elaigwu (2008) documents that “Nigeria has a total area of 932,768 square kilometers and boasts of a population of about 130 million people, as well as a population growth rate of 2.6 percent” (p.1).

It is one of the world’s most ethnically diverse countries (with over 300 identifiable ethnic groups and over 400 lingo-cultural groups) and this communal heterogeneity makes governance a complex affair. The official language of the country is English but the languages of the three large ethno linguistic groups; the Hausa, Yoruba, and the Igbo, make up the major languages of the Nigerian people.

There are three major religions in Nigeria: Islam, Christianity and African Traditional Religion. Of the three religions, the African Traditional Religion is the oldest one and it is also the religion that has suffered the greatest loss of followers as Nigerians move to the other two predominant religions.

An important feature of Nigeria is that it is a federation of a number of states. This federation was established by the British colonial rulers in 1954 and it has survived intact up to date. Elaigwu (2008) notes that this federation of previously independent states was not the result of voluntary union or contract between the states but rather an imposition by the British colonial rulers.

While the federal system was introduced in 1954, the various states maintained a lot of autonomy and this only increased after independence due to the mutual suspicions and fears that existed among ethnic groups (Elaigwu, 2008).

Nigeria has had a turbulent history after it attained independence from Britain. The country gained its independence from Britain in 1960 and a government was formed with Nnamdi Azikiwe being the first president of the country. The post of president was largely ceremonial and the real power was wielded by the prime minister who was Abubakar Tafawa.

While most other African countries had years of relative peace following independence from their respective colonial masters, Nigeria’s independence was followed by civil wars which were sparked by a number of reasons. From the onset, there existed rivalry and suspicion among the major ethnic groups: Hausa-Fulani in the north, the Yoruba in the west and the Ibo in the east.

Abubakar’s rule was marred by great corruption and inefficiency in delivery of services to the county’s population. Opposition to this corrupt and ineffective government led to a coup in 1966 which resulted in the ousting of the first president of Nigeria. A counter-coup closely followed this and Colonel Yakuba Gowon took leadership.

Due to the huge militarization of the country that followed these coups, there was a secession attempt by the Eastern Nigeria region and this sparked a civil war in 1967. The war ended in 1970 having caused the death of up to 3 million people and greatly damaged the infrastructure of the young nation.

Even though the federal government of Nigeria won the war, it realized that for peace to prevail in the multi-ethnic and multi-religious country, unity had to be achieved among the various constituent parts of the state. Achieving nationwide unity in Nigeria was going to be hard since the country has many ethnic groups (estimated to be around 375) and there is no common ancestry upon which loyalty for the land could be based.

It was therefore recognized that the desired unity and true feelings of loyalty for the state were not going to come about naturally but they could only be achieved through a deliberate social process.

National Youth Service Corp. Program

The National Youth Service Corp (NYSC) was started in 1973 under the leadership of the military head of state, General Yakubu Gowon. Agumagu, Adesope and Njoku (2006) note that the core objective of the scheme is to instill in the Nigerian youth “the spirit of selfless service to the community, and emphasize the spirit of oneness and brotherhood of all Nigerians irrespective of cultural or social background” (p.70).

The initiative also has unity as a central point to the entire scheme. Agumagu et al. (2006) point out that as a result of the turbulent history experienced by Nigeria since her independence, there is need for unity among the people.

The NYSC program is compulsory for all graduates in Nigeria since if it were voluntary in nature, only a few youths would be willing to engage in it and this would hurt the vital goal of enhancing national unity in the highest number of people.

The NYSC scheme encourages the youth to serve their nation in whatever capacity they have professional training in (Agumagu, et al., 2006). All corps members are expected to make positive contributions to the communities where they are serving.

The reason why the youth were targeted by the state as agents of change is because this group is uniquely placed to influence the society. The youth are a unique group who possess potent energies that can be channeled into meaningful activities for the purpose of national development.

Obadare (2005) notes that the potency of youth as a social category in African has been trivialized and over-simplified due to the negative connotation attached to the term “youth” in Africa.

The term African youth has come to be a metaphor for violence, crime, and struggling in the continent. This overgeneralization overshadows the reality that the youth can be engaged in peaceful social processes and serve important roles in advancing the prosperity of a nation.

The scheme is made up of four phases which are undertaken in a sequential manner. The first phase is mobilization where the corps members are posted to the various stations where they will serve.

In order to achieve the objective of forging unity and inter-ethnic understanding, members of the NYSC are required to serve in states far away from their own home state so that they can learn the ways of life of culturally different Nigerians.

Being posted in other states also helps to get rid of stereotypical views that the individual might have had concerning other ethnic groups and a more liberal outlook is adopted by the corps member (Agumagu et al., 2006).

The oriental phase takes two-weeks during which the corps members are initiated into the details of the program. The orientation phase is designed to provide the new corps members with a proper understanding of the goals of the program as well as the ideals that are held by the NYSC.

The first part of the orientation consists of citizenship and leadership training during which the corps members engage in drill and non-drill activities (Agumagu et al., 2006).

The non-drill activities include a series of lectures on history, politics, and administration and the activities are aimed at increasing knowledge of the corps members in their national heritage. The drill activities are conducted by Army officials and they include survival techniques, parading, uniform, and discipline.

The third phase consists of primary assignments and each of the corps members is required to perform his national service in the area where he/she has been deployed. The service provided is normally of a specialized nature and the corps member is placed in a field relevant to his academic qualification.

The final stage consists of winding up activities (both the primary assignments and community development services) and a final passing out parade during which corps members are awarded with certificates (Agumagu et al., 2006). A graduate in Nigeria is only eligible for legal employment after they have acquired this certificate which acts as proof that they have successfully completed the NYSC program.

While the need for the NYSC was acknowledged by the political leaders and the youths of Nigeria, the initial reaction to the NYSC scheme was not favorable and there was widespread opposition to the program by many students.

This opposition which mostly emerged from the university students was because the students had not been involved in the development of the program and there was little attempt by the government to promote the ideals of the scheme to the population. However, the scheme came to be accepted by the youth and it has been running successfully for the past 29 years.

Literature Review

From its conception, the NYSC had political motivations and the government of Nigeria hoped to advance some values using the program. The government had witnessed a breakdown in relations between people of differing ethnic groups and a civil war which led to immense losses for many Nigerians.

For the nation to succeed in future, plans had to be put in place to foster reconciliation and promote peace and unity in the country and the NYSC purported to fulfill this objectives (Agumagu et al., 2006).

In a similar manner, CSR acknowledges the political realities in the environment the company exists and stays in tune with sociopolitical movements for social equity and justice. As such, CSR is influenced by the political environment and some of the activities implemented are politically motivated.

In establishing the NYSC, the government was admitting that it needed the input of the youth so as to fulfill the goals of development and unity (Agumagu et al., 2006). This admission is based on the reality that the state has an intimate connection with its citizens and the manner in which it carries out its activities will influence the actions of these stakeholders.

Similarly, CSR is emphasized upon due to the interdependence between corporations and the society and from the acknowledgement that the organization’s activities will have an impact which may lead to positive or negative consequences within the community.

A core goal of the NYSC is to encourage self-reliance in the Nigerian youths. NYSC aims to foster the spirit of entrepreneurship in corps members and therefore enable them to become self-employed once they are through with the program.

This deemphasize on dependency on public service employment is crucial in Nigeria where the number of employment candidates far outweighs the employment opportunities provided by the government and the private sector. CSR initiatives aim to achieve the same results for the community.

Kent, Cheney, and Roper (2007) reveal that some CSR programs target unemployed members of the community and help to make them self-reliant and establish their own income generating activities.

NSR requires the state to be committed to maintaining a good overall quality of life for its citizens. This requires that resources be dedicated to communities which are poor in order to promote a rise in the living standards.

In Nigeria communities, especially in the rural areas, suffer from a dire lack of skilled labor which is needed to achieve optimal results in food production and industry. The NYSC program helps to alleviate this problem by sending skilled candidates to these areas (Agumagu et al., 2006).

The knowledge and skills of these skilled members of the corps is harnessed and used to achieve favorable outcomes such as food production, economic recovery and industry development in impoverished regions.

Some of the CSR strategies implemented by companies also aim to improve the lives of the community members. Kent et al. (2007) reveals that in some rural areas, companies implement water and sanitation programs that program help to deliver clean water to the community therefore improving their quality of life.

CSR promotes cultural awareness which is a necessity for many companies as they serve increasingly diverse cultural groups. The NYSC promotes cultural integration through the youth. This is achieved since the program requires that each corps member serve in a state different from his/her state of origin.

The youth are therefore exposed to cultures and traditions that may be significantly different from their own. This exposure to different cultures leads to an appreciation for the other people’s ways of life. Without exposure to other cultures, a person may see their culture as the only “right one” and the rigid stance will lead to poor relationships.

The NYSC forces individuals to experience other cultures and this leads to an accommodative outlook since the individual appreciates that different people have different ways of doing things. The NYSC scheme does not only influence the opinion of the corps members but also their immediate relations.

Obadare (2005) points out that the parents and relations of corps members acquire an interest about the specific area where their kin is posted. This forces the relatives to “think national” and therefore fosters a national consciousness and integration.

A key positive outcome of many CSR programs is to empower community members. This empowerment may be achieved through training and seminars where individuals are equipped with knowledge and life skills that help them to become productive members of the society. The NYSC has also achieved this goal of empowering corps members and the community at large.

Agumagu et al. (2006) asserts that corps members develop a high level of self confidence as a result of their engagement in the program. The community members are also empowered through the teaching services that are provided by corps members.

In addition to this, the national service increases the awareness of the participants of the needs of others. NYSC gives the state an opportunity to add value to its citizens by instilling professional knowledge to the youths. As has been noted, the programme is meant for graduates of tertiary institutions and a majority of these graduates possess little or no work experience.

Agumagu et al. (2006) reveal that NYSC provides on-the-job training and experience for corps members therefore increasing their professional value. Individuals who have gone through the program gain important work experience which makes it easier for them to get gainful employment after they have completed their year of service.

The NYSC scheme leads to a formation of a positive attitude towards community development service as the members engage with the community. The NYSC promotes the kind of service described by Sherraden (2001) as “an organized period of substantial engagement and contribution to the local, national, or world community, recognized and valued by society, with minima; monetary compensation to the participant” (p.2).

This service provided by the youth meets certain human needs and promotes the development of the community. Agumagu et al. (2006) states that as corps members attend various community development service sessions, individual members see the need to be more committed.

The members are enthusiastic as they share ideas and discuss how they should act in order to bring about progress in the community they are serving. CSR also promotes community service since the companies are expected to engage in community development projects without any compensation.

NSR can be used to obtain a positive influence on citizenship. This is the case with the NYSC where some explicit ideals are instilled in the members of the corps during their service. An objective of the program is to impart a right attitude, good values, and enhance the development of good qualities in the youths of Nigeria.

The service that the youth are obligated to support promotes good citizenship which helps in the development of the nation. This is similar to CSR which aims to present the company in a positive light to the public.

Kent et al. (2007) reveal that while CSR has emerged as a strategic process that is beneficial to the society, the primary concern of this strategic process is managing the image of corporations and countering any real or potential criticism of the social impacts of profit-driven businesses on the lives and values of people.

The companies therefore undertake image management through a guided philanthropy which is quickly publicized to the community that counts therefore raising the standing of the company. The same can be said for NYSC which was entrenched in the constitution of the country as a “national interest” as perceived by the military regime of the time.

CSR aims to address the particular social problem of social exclusion which is where some individuals or groups lack access to rights and benefits that are fundamental to other members of the community. CSR helps to alleviate this problem though implementations of programs which help enhance the social inclusion.

Companies can also take up greater advocacy for sufficient social changes so as to foster social inclusion and therefore benefit the previously marginalized groups (Agumagu et al., 2006). The NYSC also promotes social inclusion through the interaction among corps members and with the communities.

Through interaction among the corps members, graduates hailing from varied ethno-cultural groups are able to appreciate the similarities existing between their cultures. Interaction with the communities leads to a reduction in ethnic chauvinism and the graduates are able to develop healthy attitudes towards groups that were otherwise excluded.

A key goal of all corporate social responsibility initiatives is to bring about positive changes to the communities that the company interacts with. Arguably the most frequently mentioned vision statement in the corporate social responsibility plan of many organizations is to give back to society.

CSR therefore involves giving to the community without expecting any repayment for the services rendered. The NYSC also applies the same philosophy since the corps members are expected to offer services to their nation without expecting repayments for the actions.

The then Nigerian Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon, best articulated the mandate of the NYSC at the formal inauguration of the NYSC Directorate in June 1973 as; mobilizing the youths and preparing them to “offer willingly and without asking for return, their best in the service of their nation at all times” (Obadare, 2005, p.14).

The corps members are supposed to learn about the higher ideals of service to the community beyond the thought of reward as they serve their nation for no payment.

Most CSR efforts have a number of tangible contributions to the society. For example, some companies build social facilities such as hospitals, schools, and roads for the community that they interact with. Others contribute labor to health care facilities or even homeless shelters.

These physical contributions improve the lives of the society and also increase the wellbeing of the community members. The NYSC scheme also brings about some tangible benefits to the various stations where the corps members are deployed.

These contributions are mostly in the form of skilled manpower supply and in the education sector where a majority of the corps members serve in (Agumagu et al., 2006). The program members also make a contribution to the rural infrastructure and health care delivery therefore greatly benefiting members of the community.

While most urban areas have the necessary skilled labor force, the rural areas suffer from a shortage of skilled workers. The NYSC assists in tackling this skilled manpower issue since the graduates who possess technical knowledge are posted in the areas where the skilled manpower is needed but lacking.

A significant outcome of NYSC is that it has served as the main source of teachers and doctors in rural communities therefore contributing to the welfare of people in these areas.

The NYSC stresses on sustainability and it teaches the corps members to protect the nation’s environment and natural resources. This is because sustainable development is critical to the overall long-term well being of the society and it is a core objective for many governments (Sherraden, 2001).

For any development to be regarded as sustainable, it has to meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. CSR initiatives take this into consideration and all possible measures are made to use resources in a responsible manner.

Criticism of NYSC

While the NYSC has achieved many successes in its role as a national social responsibility strategy, the program is criticized for a number of reasons.

To begin with, the success of NYSC in achieving its core goals of promoting unity, patriotism and citizenship values has been questioned considering the high levels of ethno-religious intolerance and uncivil behavior that has been carried out by the youth and the rest of the population in Nigeria.

The effectiveness of some of the stages of the scheme is also below standard. Corps members reveal that the community development initiative of the NYSC which is aimed at enhancing community service and instilling values of selfless service to the nation is mostly a failure.

This is because the initiative suffers from inadequate funding which makes it impossible for the corps members to carry out non-trivial projects in service to the community.

Further compounding the problem is the fact that there lacks adequate supervision by the NYSC officials which has made the community development day for many corps members “a weekly holiday, another day for meetings and socialization by corps members”(Obadare, 2005, p.36).

Another criticism to the program is that it fails to sustain the values of selflessness and an emphasis on unity in the corps members. Research on the success of the NYSC revealed that a while a significantly high number of serving corps members had a positive opinion about the scheme (86.7%), the proportion of former corps members who had positive opinions about the program was lower (70%) (Obadare, 2005).

From these findings, it would appear that while the program instilled values in the corps members, the same values are easily eroded. However, this might not be a problem with the NYSC scheme but rather with the overall society which makes it hard for the former corps members to live by the ideals inculcated during their year of service.

Discussion

Social responsibility has become an indispensable component for both corporations and nation states since it has not only social but economic consequences. This paper has provided a discussion of the NYSC in Nigeria and how it serves as a National Social Responsibility program.

The National Youth Service Corps has been in operation since 1973 and the scheme has been instrumental in promoting service to the nation by the youths. The need for unity in Nigeria cannot be over emphasized considering the upsurge in inter-faith clashes that the country has experienced in the previous years.

As a result of being exposed to this program, corps members are actively involved in the community development services and have a positive attitude towards community service. The whole community has benefited since the youth are more willing to play their part in national development.

As with many other national service programs in the continent, the NYSC was designed to mobilize young people for national development and foster peace and unity in Nigeria. The program has been able to bridge the gap that exists between the different peoples of the nation and therefore enhance unity and peaceful co-existence in Nigeria.

The NYSC as a National Social Responsibility has some major advantages over CSR. Kent et al. (2007) states that CSR sometimes fails to work as well as it could due to the voluntary nature of CSR. The CSR targets set by companies are therefore not always met since there is no binding obligation for the company to achieve these objectives.

The regulations set to govern the CSR can also be changed as the company deems appropriate and not all companies will be willing to incur extra expenses in the name of CSR. In contrast to this, the NYSC program is compulsory for all graduates in Nigeria and the graduates cannot be legally employed until they have served they have completed their one year of service and have a certificate to attest to this.

The scheme is therefore able to meet its targets since there is a binding obligation for the corps members to engage in the activities assigned to them.

In spite of the criticism that the NYSC has faced, a majority of serving corps members and alumni of the program argue for the continued existence of the program.

These points to the relevance of the program in promoting advancing its core objectives of national integration and peace as well as acting as a platform for national social responsibility. Just like CSR strategies give companies competitive advantages, NSR can give a nation advantages by promoting innovation and economic growth by the nations citizens.

Conclusion

This paper set out to demonstrate how the NYSC scheme in Nigeria acts as a CSR program on a national level. The paper has demonstrated that while CSR is often associated with businesses, NSR emulates some of the philosophies of CSR albeit at a national level.

This paper has underscored the importance of the NYSC scheme in Nigeria and the role that this scheme has played in fostering unity and also bringing about community development. The program has had significant success in promoting national integration in the multi-ethnic nation of Nigeria.

Moreover, the scheme has inculcated civic ethos and improved the standard of living for a significant number of communities in the rural areas of Nigeria. The NYSC has served as an essential pillar of nation building and how its relevance in the country is still strong even after 29 years of existence.

This paper has noted that there are many attributes of the NYSC which are similar to Corporate Social Responsibility. It can therefore be suggested that the NYSC scheme takes CSR to a national level since the program is implemented through the entire country.

The NYSC has gone beyond inculcating the spirit of service and patriotism in the nation’s youth; it has proved to be an adept tool for national social service with many positive results being reaped by the communities and the nation as a whole.

References

Agumagu, A.C., Adesope, O.M. & Njoku, M.C. (2006). Attitude of youth corpers towards the community development service of NYSC in Nigeria. Journal of Agriculture and Social Research, 6(1), 70-75.

Elaigwu, J.I. (2008). The Federal Republic of Nigeria. NY: International Association of Centers for federal Studies.

Jawahir, A. & Hopkins, M. (2008). National social responsibility (NSR) and nation states. Web.

Kent, S., Cheney, G., & Roper, J. (2007). The Debate over corporate social responsibility. Cambridge: Oxford University Press.

Obadare, E. (2005). Statism, Youth and the Civic Imagination: A Critical Study of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Programme in Nigeria. St Louis: Center for Social Development.

Sherraden, Michael (2001). Civic Service: Issues, Outlook, Institution Building (CSD Perspective). St Louis, Center for Social Development.

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