How to get the best out of your NYSC year

The Nigeria National Youth Service Corps program is a mandatory paramilitary scheme for fresh graduates in the country who are below the age of 30.

NYSC is a 1-year program designed by the former president of Nigeria, Yakubu Gowon after the civil war with the aim of unifying Nigeria by integrating the youth into Nation building and posting them to a different part of the country to learn a new culture and understand different tribes.

This program was a life changer for our fathers, mothers, aunties, and uncles but in recent time the program has been marred with the death of several corps members due to political riots and tribal misunderstanding. This has increased the call by youth all around the country for the scrapping of the program.

Contrary to popular belief, NYSC is actually a useful program for integration of the youth especially in a country as diverse as Nigeria. If Unity is imbibed into the youth then the future will be blissful.

The government has no plans to scrap the program anytime soon so the conversation should now be how can I achieve more during my NYSC year.

NYSC year is one of the freest periods in the life of a graduate and several corps members underutilize this period.

To get the best from your NYS years then you have to follow the steps that will be mentioned below:

Research: one of the mistake prospective Corpers make is not researching and the one who do don’t do it adequately. The information you need as a prospective ‘Corper’ can be gathered from former Corpers and surfing the internet. Some info an intending ‘Corper’ need is, There are several distractions during the 3 weeks orientation camp but there are also educative lectures, vocational training that can set you up for life and that most Corps member ends up teaching in school. Having all these info and more will help you plan your NYSC year very well even before you start the program.

Plan: now that you have the necessary information you need to work out several plans which include but not limited to, plan on how not to waste all the 21 days you will use in orientation camp, plan on the vocational training that you can learn while in camp, plan well on how well you will use your time after the 3 weeks orientation camp, plan on what you will do during that 1 year that will improve your life and finally plan on how you can impact the students and community you are posted to.

Strive to Improve yourself: sometimes this is not as easy as it sounds because some Corpers are posted to extreme villagers which will make accessing venue for the teaching of a professional course or training hard. You have to be determined. Like I mentioned above this is the freest period you will have as a graduate and you have to be prepared for the life after. There are a lot of professional course trainers that come to the orientation camp to introduce courses to Corpers, try as much as possible to do one of this courses and this will surely help your career.

Save: one of the things you should do during your NYSC year is save, save as much as you can. Corpers are paid a stipend by the FG at the end of every month, some lucky ones get paid by the state or their Place of Primary Assignment. Try as much as you can to set aside some of this money monthly. This can be used to establish yourself after your NYSC year.

Network: during NYSC there area different set of people who are brought from various part of the country and even abroad to participate in the program. This is an opportunity for a ‘Corper’ to meet and network with other graduates from around the country.  Connect with as many corps members as possible during your NYSC year and this connection can open new doors in the nearest future.