WHAT IS THE NYSC PROGRAMME

The NYSC stands for, the National Youth Service Corps. The NYSC scheme is the mandatory one year of national service that every graduate of a university, polytechnic or college of education must pass through immediately upon graduation. To qualify for the programme the graduate must be 30 years or below as at the year of graduation.

Nigeria currently consists of 36 states and a federal capital teritory in Abuja. Nigeria boasts of more than 250 ethnic nationalities. In view of these the NYSC scheme ensures that as far as possible the youths are posted to states other than their states of origin and away from their geographical, ethnic and cultural background.

This NYSC posting strategy ensures national integration as the corps members learn lifestyles different from the ones they are used to. The NYSC scheme also instils discipline and the spirit of selfless service and self reliance on the youths that take part in the programme.

A typical NYSC year programme is divided into four phases. They are the NYSC orientation programme, pimary assignment, community development service(CDS) and winding-up programme.

The NYSC orientation programme takes place during the first three weeks of the service year. The orientation programme takes place simultaneously in special camps located in every state in Nigeria. During the NYSC orientation programme, corps members undergo a course comprising drills, physical exercises, lectures and leadership training.

The NYSC primary assignment and the community development service runs concurrently and follows the the orientation programme. During the primary assignment NYSC corps members are posted to diferent establishments were they are expected to work for the next 11 months.

The NYSC community development(CD) service is designed to help integrate the corps members with their host communities. NYSC corps members are encouraged to embark on CD projects. These CD projects help in developing host communities.

The NYSC winding-up and passing-out parade takes place in the last week of the service year. During the service year the NYSC corps member is paid a monthly allowance of 8500 naira($67).

NYSC: AN AVERAGE DAY IN CAMP

The average day at the NYSC camp begins between 5:00am to 5:00am with the sound of an alarm. The first alarm signals the corps member to wake up and get ready for the morning's activities. The second sounds about 30 minutes later and signals the NYSC corp members to assemble at the assembly ground.

At the assembly ground the corp members engage in a breif prayer after which the national and the NYSC anthems are recited. All this will take less than 20 minutes on the average.

Shortly after the NYSC anthem, the corps members will begin their physical training. This is done with the assistance of the man'O war and millitary personel. The physical training lasts for about 40 minutes.

The physical training is followed by the morning drills. During the morning drills the NYSC corps members are put through some sort of millitary training. This lasts for about an hour and ends between 7:00am and 7:30am.

After the morning drills the corps members can now take their bath and go for breakfast. The NYSC corps member has between 7:30am and 9:00am( about 1 hour 30 minutes ) to get ready for the seminar which commences at 9:00am.

NYSC corps members attend seminars on different issues(HIV/AIDS, national security, culture and tradition, ICPC, MDGs, NIM, NDLEA, NDE, FRSC, fire safty, wealth creation,etc.). This seminars enables the NYSC corps members to widen their scope of knowledge. The seminar lasts for about 3 hours each day.

The seminars are followed by lunch and siesta.

At 4:00pm an alarm will nomarlly sound for evening drills, games, language studies and sports. The NYSC corps members then go for dinner around 6:30pm. After lunch the corps members then engage in social activities(fun time). 10:00pm is the time for lights out.

On fridays moslems go for Jumat service and on sundays chritains go for sunday service. On saturdays NYSC corps members engage in enviromental sanitation. On saturdays and sundays their is time for personal administration. This are times that the NYSC corps members can do whatever they want to do.