The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a mandatory, post-tertiary scheme for Nigerian students.
The scheme was set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime of Head of State, Yakubu Gowon, to “reconstruct, reconcile and rebuild the country after the Nigerian Civil War”.
There is no military conscription in Nigeria, but since 1973, graduates of universities and polytechnics have been required to take part in the National Youth Service Corps program for one year.
This is known as the “national service year”.
To the common man, that is the period when Nigerians serve their fatherland.
However, in this scheme, a strange custom abounds.
The service has maintained a standard of not posting corps members to their State of origin to serve, except in very few cases, perhaps it was even by mistake.
This tradition has been a matter of concern as oftentimes many students prefer to serve in their states of origin due to one reason or the other.
The question begging for an answer is, why does the NYSC insist on this law?
Also Read: FULL LIST: Addresses Of NYSC Secretariats Across Nigeria
The major reason is to build unity and foster peaceful coexistence among the citizens.
By posting students to various parts of the country, they get to learn about the place, live with people from other states, learn their ways, etc.
This has always been the case, students from the Eastern part of the country are posted to the North for instance.
However, in today’s Nigeria, people get scared to accept postings to some parts of the country, not because they don’t like it, but oftentimes for security reasons.
