Peter F. Drucker, the Austrian-American management guru (1909 -2005), it was who opined that change is an inevitable constant in human situations and that innovation is important in the 21st Century where skills become obsolete at the speed of light and what was deemed essential yesterday sooner or later becomes irrelevant, requiring new thinking, new styles, new modes to remain relevant and to gain new knowledge. But the proposed plan by the Federal Government of Nigeria to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme does not fit into this pattern. It is a classic case of majoring in the minors, a misplaced priority, a wasteful adventure whose long-term subliminal objective may be mere self-enrichment that would not change much but rather cause unwanted confusion. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has advertised itself as a reform-minded administration. But certain reforms do not come across as a priority and this NYSC reform is one of such thoughtless propositions like, if we may cite an earlier example, the decision to revert to the old Nigerian National Anthem. I watch people at public events, they sing along most reluctantly because there was no consensus nor has there been any buy-in, that Nigeria needed to change its National Anthem. It is important that policies are not enacted or revised simply to satisfy the personal fancy or the whims of anyone no matter how highly placed. In the case of the NYSC, nobody was consulted. We woke up one morning only to be told by the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande that a decision had been taken to reform the NYSC programme. Nobody needs NYSC reform.
Nobody Needs NYSC Reform
Peter F. Drucker, the Austrian-American management guru (1909 -2005), it was who opined that change is an inevitable constant in human situations and that innovation is important in the 21st Century where skills become obsolete at the speed of light and what was deemed essential yesterday sooner or later becomes irrelevant, requiring new thinking, new styles, new modes to remain relevant and to gain new knowledge. But the proposed plan by the Federal Government of Nigeria to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme does not fit into this pattern. It is a classic case of majoring in the minors, a misplaced priority, a wasteful adventure whose long-term subliminal objective may be mere self-enrichment that would not change much but rather cause unwanted confusion. The Bola Ahmed Tinubu administration has advertised itself as a reform-minded administration. But certain reforms do not come across as a priority and this NYSC reform is one of such thoughtless propositions like, if we may cite an earlier example, the decision to revert to the old Nigerian National Anthem. I watch people at public events, they sing along most reluctantly because there was no consensus nor has there been any buy-in, that Nigeria needed to change its National Anthem. It is important that policies are not enacted or revised simply to satisfy the personal fancy or the whims of anyone no matter how highly placed. In the case of the NYSC, nobody was consulted. We woke up one morning only to be told by the Minister of State for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande that a decision had been taken to reform the NYSC programme. Nobody needs NYSC reform.
