The controversy over the National Youth Service Corps discharge certificate of the Finance Minister, Kemi Adeosun, has drawn widespread public attention for several weeks now, and it does not seem to be going away. The issues involved are already in the public domain and well-known.
The divergent opinions expressed so far have been scathing and judgemental without taking into consideration the Nigerian factor; the inefficiency, indifference, graft and ineptitude of the country’s bureaucracy.
The impression about Nigeria within and outside the country is that nothing works and nothing can be done officially without giving bribes, or going through the back door. In this murky situation, illegal parallel institutions are created to replace government agencies through which the public is duped and fleeced.
This crisis would have been averted if the NYSC headquarters had responded to the minister’s application and advised on what to do and conditions to be met before the discharge certificate could be issued.
The discharge certificate, forged, authentic and in whatever way it was obtained, is symptomatic of a widespread systemic failure which is responsible for most of Nigeria’s ills.
Nigerians within the country have accepted the status quo and learnt to live with it. But foreigners and Nigerians in the Diaspora are often confused and cannot understand why simple and certain straight forward matters are rendered so complicated and impossible.
If an application or letter is written to a government agency, there would always be a response in most countries, even in Togo or Chad. But the contrary is usually the case here, and this is the problem, and it is a big one. National institutions are simply not working.
The various interventions so far have been emotional, and cynical. The call for the minister’s resignation is uncalled for, will serve no purpose and prove nothing. Nigeria will remain a “fantastically corrupt country” so long as the state institutions are dysfunctional.
The way forward is to take measures which will prevent the recurrence of this crisis in future by taking a hard look at why several state institutions are not working. And for the NYSC, the policy on age limit should be reviewed because of changing times and circumstances.
At the inception of the service over four decades ago, Nigeria needed all of its human resources to accelerate the development of the country. This warranted drafting as many of the educated citizens as possible, within and outside the country, to serve in various capacities.
But times have changed. The high unemployment rate, saturated manpower and brain drain make the enforcement of serving after the age of 30 years, irrespective of the year of graduation, unnecessary.
Most Nigerians who are currently living abroad are reluctant to come back home because of the present negative security and economic situation of the country, and those who risk coming back should not be discouraged by unnecessary vilification.
The likes of Mr Adebayo Ogunlesi, the owner of Gatwick Airport, may desire to come back home and invest, for example, in the newly floated Air Nigeria or Prof Yinka Olutoye, the legendary US-based surgeon, may wish to come back to assist address the rot in the health sector. These people among others should not be put off and discouraged by the ongoing bickering in the media.
The icons of the future like Harold Ekeh, Nkechi Ogbolu who are making Nigeria proud abroad, should feel confident enough to return home at a point in time in future, without being scared of unnecessary harassment.
In sum, public institutions, including the NYSC, must be up and doing in the discharge of their duties. Nations are defined by their institutions, and no country can rise above the quality of its bureaucracy.
Who says, and without insinuating anything, that this drama may after all be orchestrated by thieves, who may wish to storm the capital market and the financial institutions.
Ambassador Rasheed Akinkuolie was Director of Trade and Investments, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. akinkuolie. rasheed@gmail.com
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