It is heartwarming to hear some new measures that the management of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, is taking to improve the welfare of corps members and strengthen faith in an otherwise marvelous scheme that is rapidly losing its allure.

The health insurance scheme is a welcome idea because it will ensure that when corps members fall sick, they will have access to adequate care wherever they are serving.

We, however, recommend that a comprehensive life insurance policy should be initiated if it is not already in operation.

In the unfortunate situation where a corps member suffers permanent disability or dies in active service, there is a need for some financial succour packages for the victims or their families.

The granting of a television licence to the NYSC (which includes the ongoing effort to issue it with a radio licence) is also worthy of commendation. This collaboration between NYSC’s Director General, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim, and his counterpart in the National Broadcasting Corporation, NBC, Mallam Balarabe Ilela, will enable the Service to set up a radio and television network that will reach corps members and the public in all parts of the country and beyond.

Coming at this time of grave insecurity concerns, it will go a long way in keeping our corps members safe.

We advise the NYSC management to leverage on this policy to disseminate information, education and even entertainment aimed at enhancing the security of corps members and staff, educating and enlightening them and interested members of the public on skills acquisition, financial literacy, political education, social skills and advocacy, volunteerism, leadership skills and offering tasteful entertainment.

Such mass communication outfits should also be used to forge dramatic/movie skits that debunk the misleading mainstream commercial-induced Nollywood narratives which promote criminality, violent crimes (especially ritual killings for money) and crass materialism.

The NYSC media should be used to project the kind of characters that cohere with the visions behind the scheme, promote genuine patriotism and give our heroes and heroines their places of pride in the nation’s consciousness.

To sustain the interests of the public and corps members, the NSYC media must at all cost resist the temptation of being converted to political or propaganda outfits of any government or politician in power. Otherwise, it will lose its relevance both to its primary and general audiences.

We call on the NBC to encourage Nigerians operating in specialised areas such as security, business/entrepreneurship, energy, transport, health, education, environment, and others to apply for licences. This will open up the knowledge vista and meet the needs of the populace at a time when rapid, disruptive changes are already leaving our people behind the rest of the world.

Even the NBC can be an agent for positive change.

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