How Nigerian civil war led to the establishment of NYSC
In May 1973, three years after the civil war, General Yakubu Gowon established the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC).
The aim was to unite Nigeria after the 30-month civil war.
Before the war, some Nigerians had expressed disappointment in the ‘lopsided appointment’ in the public service.
They claimed it was dominated by northerners.
To register their displeasure, a group of soldiers led by Major Kaduna Nzeogwu staged Nigeria’s first military coup in January 1966.
Some of those killed in the bloody coup were: Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, Premier of Western Region, Samuel Akintola, Premier of Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello, Finance Minister, and other politicians and military officers.
General Aguiyi Ironsi took over as the Head of State after the coup. Following his emergence, the coup was widely termed an ‘Igbo coup’.
Six months later, Murtala Muhammed led some soldiers to stage a retaliatory coup.
Ironsi and some Igbos in the Army were killed in the coup. In the north, Igbos became victims of what many historians have described as pogroms.
This led to a mass exodus of Igbos back to the East. On May 30, 1967, Chukwuemeka Ojukwu, Governor of the Eastern Region declared the secession of the Eastern region from Nigeria
He claimed Igbos were no longer needed in Nigeria. The declaration led to a civil war that lasted for 30 months.
An estimated three million people died in the war.
In a statement on January 16, 1970, Ojukwu said: “Biafra was born out of the blood of innocents slaughtered in Nigeria during the pogroms of 1966.”
When the war ended in January 1970, Gowon established NYSC to foster nationalism.
It was part of the government’s ‘3Rs’ — Reconstruction, Rehabilitation & Reconciliation programme.
“My government established NYSC to initiate reconciliation among Nigerians after the civil war,” Gowon said at the 44th anniversary of NYSC.
NYSC is designed to deploy university and polytechnic graduates under age 30 (at the time of graduation) to locations outside their region of origin and where they were educated.
Graduates above age 30 at the time of graduation get an exemption letter.
Section 12 of the NYSC Act mandates employers to demand NYSC certificate before hiring an employee.
Section 13 criminalises skipping the scheme and prescribes 12 months imprisonment or a fine of N2,000 or both, for offenders.
The rising insecurity across Nigeria has fuelled calls for the scrapping of NYSC.
In 2017, Gowon said the call is misplaced.
“The scheme has done a lot to bring about national unity and integration,” he said in 2017,” he said.
