NOW YOUR SUFFERING CONTINUE (NYSC)

 Amidst the many crises going on in the north where many of the NYSC members have lost their lives, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Director General, Brig.- Gen. Maharazu Tsiga, has disclosed that 70 serving corps members are undergoing training on skill acquisition in Germany and the United States (U.S.).

According to him, 50 corps members are currently on skill acquisition programmes in Germany while 20 are in the U.S. for the same programme at the expense of the scheme.The NYSC boss explained that the foreign training was part of efforts of the government at repositioning the scheme and corps members for greater challenges.

He was reported to have said that “I am glad to say that due to tremendous achievements of NYSC in the past years and most especially in the conduct of the April 2011 general elections, the international community is now preparing to accept our corps members and staff of the scheme for training and retraining and mostly on skill acquisition programmes,”

However, considering the objective for the establishment of the NYSC, this information on overseas training for 50 corps members in Germany, and 20 in the United States of America, is novel. For the records, the NYSC was established shortly after the civil war, which ended in 1970, by the military regime of Gen. Yakubu Gowon as a vehicle to foster unity amongst the diverse ethnic and religious groups in the country. The ultimate aim was to unite the people through better understanding of the culture, customs and traditions of other Nigerians.

Consequently, members of the scheme, mainly young graduates from the universities and polytechnics, were posted to serve the nation in states different from their states of origin. In most cases, graduates from the southern parts of the country were posted to the northern parts for their one-year mandatory national service.

In the first ten years, the scheme was lauded for the opportunities it provided for cross-cultural understanding and for providing needed manpower in some parts of the country that were then regarded as educationally disadvantaged. But, the shine of this redistribution of manpower advantage was deleted when most state governments refused to offer permanent jobs to corps members at the end of the service year. Subsequently, the nation's economic downturn and the collapsing industries led to massive rejection of corps members, countrywide.

Also, the recent killing of corps members who served as electoral officials at the 2011 general elections during violence that trailed the presidential poll in the northern part of the country has renewed calls for the scrapping of the NYSC scheme. Before then, there had been suggestions that compulsory military training, beyond the current mere drills, should be incorporated into the scheme.

While urging workers of the scheme to eschew all forms of negative practices capable of running the scheme down, General Tsiga observed that one of the challenges confronting the NYSC were calls by some people that it should be scrapped. He noted that “Scraping of the NYSC will lead to kidnapping, robbery and other vices in the country. Most importantly it will also lead to throwing over 5,000 workforce of the scheme into the employment market,”

In the midst of divided opinions on the continuing relevance of the NYSC scheme in view of its challenges over the decades, the Federal Government does not seem to have done a comprehensive evaluation of the programme to fine-tune its objectives and implementation.

However, the recent announcement by the Nigerian Senate that it will review the 1973 NYSC act, indicates that a middle ground approach that favours retaining the program appears to be the winning argument by Nigerian legislators.

One potential middle ground solution that has been proposed is for the government to mandate that corps members serve in their geo-political zones.

This makes sense in principle since it is unacceptable to sacrifice the lives of young Nigerians in the name of promoting national unity. Giving young people such a cross to bear is certainly too costly a price.

Meanwhile, such an arrangement begs the question, what then will be the purpose of the NYSC? Having lost its primary function of fostering national unity, it will need another function that will, at the very least, justify the high cost of running the scheme.

The likely alternative primary function for the program in view of such initiative as sending corps members abroad for skill acquisition would be for it to serve as a means of job creation. Though the NYSC in its present form currently in a sense fulfils this role for one year, many corps members find themselves thrown once more into the job market after earning 18,000 monthly although their service year. Then their suffering will begin. It is indeed Now Your Suffering Continue (NYSC)

LET THERE BE LIGHT... and there was hike

 For every time there is request for better power supply in Nigeria, the response is always something different. First, it was a request for a better National electric power authority (NEPA) the response was a worse Power Holding Corporation of Nigeria (PHCN)- a rebranding of a misbranded brand. And now we have requested for uninterrupted power supply, guess what the response is, an increase in electricity tariff, Ha! aye ma le o

The increase in cost of electricity from N8.50 to N10 per kilowatt-hour from July 1 has generated ripples across the country. Many people, largely unimpressed with the continuing poor power supply in the country, have queried the justification for increasing tariff at a time that supply of the product is grossly inadequate. In University of Lagos for instance, we have never had the worst of electricity moment than we are having in recent time. The situation is more pathetic in view of the digitization agenda of the current Vice Chancellor.

Meanwhile, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and the Trade Union Congress (TUC) have condemned the decision to effect the increase. They told the government to have a rethink on the matter, since the country cannot develop without access to affordable electricity. A couple of years ago, the Manufacturing Association of Nigeria (MAN) reported a couple of companies that left Nigeria due to the incessant power supply but current report about those companies has it that they are doing well in other part of Africa, especially in Ghana.

Although, the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC), have insisted that the increased price regime is not new as it is only the implementation of rates approved under the Multi-Year Tariff Order (MYTO) in 2008. Yet this is no sufficient excuse. The NERC Chairman, Sam Amadi, said the adjustment of the average cost of electricity is part of the MYTO, which provides for increase in price of electricity every five years. The increase is also in keeping with Section 76 of Electric Power Sector Reform Act 2005 which provides that electricity tariff be auto-adjusted to reflect current cost of gas and general inflation.

Well, the NERC is well within its rights to forge ahead with strict implementation of the MYTO but for an average Nigerian it is like narrating the cooking procedure for a hungry man who unfortunately is an angry man. In fact, pricing is not the critical problem with electricity in Nigeria but adequate supply. Inflationary trends in the economy suggest that an increase in the cost of a kilowatt-hour of electricity by N1.50 in five years is not outrageous. The major problem is that there is no remarkable improvement in the supply of this critical product. The little noticeable improvement in power supply just before the elections fizzled out as soon as the polls were concluded. It is this failure to meet the expectations of the people for regular power supply that makes the idea of an increase in tariff unjustifiable. The challenge before NERC and the authorities, therefore, is to give Nigerians adequate electricity to justify this increase, that was what my teacher taught me about the law of demand and supply in the good old days of secondary school.

By the way, the MYTO was introduced in 2008 with a terminal date of 2013 to ensure stability in the price of electricity services and to generate more funding for the electric power industry. With the new tariff of N10.00 per kilowatt hour, the NERC envisages that the sector will be able to generate an additional N1.1 trillion annually during the next five years, if the planned implementation of the power sector is followed consistently.

Currently, the industry generates only N400bn a year, a figure grossly inadequate to guarantee the growth of the sector and efficient service delivery to consumers. Thus, from the point of view of the electricity service providers and the regulatory commission, a projected total revenue of N1.5trn annually from the new tariff appears to be the solution to the cash problems of the energy sector.

Unfortunately, the commission has chosen to concentrate on the distribution aspect of a basically three-dimensional problem – generation, transmission and distribution. Even for the distribution component, an increased tariff regime alone is insufficient to address the problem of poor return on investment. Besides, at the inauguration of the MYTO in 2008, there were other components of the phased tariff regime that now appear to have been conveniently ignored. It is baffling that while emphasizing the role of efficient pricing in the distribution chain, the commission failed to address the major issues of electricity generation and transmission. Yet without adequate generation and efficient transmission, distribution will remain epileptic.

It is also unfortunate that so much money has been spent on the power sector with little to show for it. Whatever happened to the probe of trillions of naira allegedly spent on the sector between 1999 and 2007? Without bringing those responsible for misuse of funds appropriated for power projects to book, corruption in the sector will continue to flourish like a tree planted by the riverside.

Over the years, Nigerians have been inundated with information on various efforts by government to improve power supply. All these efforts have up till now not yielded the desired result. Let the president and his team work round the clock to remove every impediment to efficient power supply. There should be regular maintenance of power stations while shortage of gas should be addressed.

In addition, the stations should be made to work at full capacity. Government must be serious about keeping power generation stations in top shape. The authorities should also be decisive in dealing with those who sabotage electricity supply. Let the government wield its powers to effect a change in the sector.
Nigeria must also strive to diversify source of power supply. The technology for wind and solar energy is available. Let it be properly utilised to improve electricity generation.

Another suggestion will be for the government to also encourage Nigerians to use energy saving devices such as low-watt bulbs-as in the case of UNILAG. Let import duty be reduced for such products. There is also need for behavioural change with regard to use of electricity in the country. The people should be enlightened on the need to put off all electrical appliances, including light bulbs, when not in use. Use of pre-paid metres will also reduce power wastage. Unfortunately, the supply of the metres has not been as expected.


Let us not adopt the pay before service method on this matter, the authorities should show Nigerians what we are paying or will be paying for by putting  the zeal and efficiency demonstrated in ensuring timely increase in tariff to generation and distribution of the product also. After doing these, then let there be light and there will be... Light