PUBLIC AND PRIVATE AGENCIES DEPENDENCY ON CORPS MEMBERS AND ITS IMPACT ON YOUTHS EMPLOYMENT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the study

One of the most critical problems of development confronting the continent of Africa and Nigeria, in particular, is youth unemployment. In the contention of Yemi B. (2017), despite preventing some of the economies from attaining economic significance and aspirations of development, it had positioned them as countries without a job-growth economy. The up-surge of youth unemployment has turned out to be an all-reaching concern in the present-day global world. Youth unemployment serves as a platform for the breeding of social problems. Unemployed young people experience frustration, shame, sadness and unfriendliness. Some youths are attracted to crimes as a result of joblessness. As a way of expressing their misgiving to a system that prevents them from using remunerative employment to contribute positively to economic development, they engage in other anti-social, anti-economic, anti-political in addition to violent, illegal and criminal activities. However, the contention becomes how the grip of youth unemployment lingers in the face of multiple public and private companies in Nigeria. Although there are other factors that can contribute to youth not being gainfully employed, Miriam I. (2021) suggested that private and public sector reliance on corp members has contributed. As a result, those sectors are no longer interested in employing youths with experience, skill, and qualification because they cannot afford their salaries, so they resort to corp members.Unfortunately, this practice of consciousness also spread to the private sector where employers fell in line with government discriminatory employment policies. As Yesufu A. (2017) aptly summarized, "private employers, particularly medium expatriate firms, have largely adopted this approach in labor recruitment, in deference to the susceptibilities of qualified youth who might otherwise increase their expenditure on salary payment, thus bidding to save by employing less capital intensive corp members.Therefore, it is upon this premise that this study set to examine Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members and its impact on youths employment.

1.2 Statement of the problem

Every corp member hopes to get posted to companies for their place of primary assignment after successfully undergoing the mandatory three-week orientation exercise in camp. The next phase is posting to the place of primary assignment.

While most corp members' desire to be posted in private companies rather than schools, revolves around the extra salary/stipend that will boost their "alawee" (the federal government allowance paid to corp members) and gaining work experience which they include in their resume to impress future employees. Although this idea appears fantastic and exciting, it has had a detrimental effect on deepening the rate of unemployment of youths who are professional, skilled, qualified yet not employed by those companies. This is because public and private agencies/departments are no longer recruiting able and qualified Nigerian youths, thus relying heavily on the availability of corps members who are not being well remunerated and get discarded with impunity at the end of their service year without any hope of being gainfully employed. Hence, this parasitic dependence continues to heighten the rate of unemployment because each year, these sectors are certain to receive serving corp members who they use instead of engaging professionals. Thus, making this vicious cycle detrimental to youth employment. Thus, it is against the backdrop that this study set to examine Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members and its impact on youth employment.

1.3 Objective of the study

The main purpose of this study is to examine Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members and its impact on youths employment. Specifically it seeks;

1. To examine if private agencies employ more corp members than they employ non-corp members.

2. To investigate if private agencies underpay corp members for the same service a skilled youth would render.

3. To determine if Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members has a significant impact on youths employment.

1.4 Research Questions

1.     To examine if private agencies employ more corp members than they employ non-corp members.

2.     To investigate if private agencies underpay corp members for the same service a skilled youth would render.

3.     To determine if Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members has a significant impact on youths employment.

1.5 Significance of the study

This study will be significant to policy makers, private and public agencies. This study will inform policymakers and the government about the importance of evaluating the bill repealing the NYSC, taking into account the implications for increasing unemployment and deepening the grins of criminal activity in the country.It will also enable them to modify the scheme, taking into consideration the maximum number of corp members a private firm can take in order to give room for recruitment of youths. The study will enlighten private and public agencies on the detriment of their dependency on low-paid labour by using corp members instead of employing professionals who can do better. The study will be helpful to graduates and expose them to seeking other meaningful ways to survive, either by going into entrepreneurship in the absence of a white-collar job. Finally, the study will contribute to the body of knowledge and serve as reference material to researchers in policy studies.

1.6 Scope of the study

The scope of the study borders on  Public and Private Agencies Dependency on Corps Members and its impact on youths employment. The study is therefore limited to Abeokuta, in Ogun State.

1.5 Limitation of the study

The following posed to be a constraint to the study

Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.

However in the midst  above mentioned limitation the researcher devotedly ensured that the purpose of the study was actualized.

1.8 Definition of terms

NYSC: The National Youth Service Corps is a program set up by the Nigerian government to involve Nigerian graduates in nation building and the development of the country. 

Unemployment: Unemployment, according to the OECD, is persons above a specified age not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the reference period.

Private Agencies: Private agency means an individual or any form of business organization, including a nonprofit organization, authorized under the laws of this state or any other state or under the laws of any foreign jurisdiction.