NYSC and the frustrations of a young Nigerian doctor5 mins read

NYSC is compulsory for Nigerians graduates. It is a year of service to the nation, but Nigeria doesn’t make it easy to serve her.

When I started my NYSC year, I toyed with the idea of documenting it, right from camp. While I was still trying to ‘psych’ myself up to write about it, more cases of COVID-19 were announced in Nigeria – the camp was closed almost 12 days early.

There was a worldwide lockdown unlike we have seen in recent history and NYSC seemed like the least of my worries. After the lockdown was lifted, activities resumed and I remembered that I was a corp member. As the year went by, the decision to document waned as I felt there was nothing eventful to write about.

In the last month of the scheme, I did some thinking about NYSC and I decided to at least pen something down. However, the thoughts I would be sharing are mostly about the stress and delays the scheme presents for young Nigerian graduates particularly medical doctors.

After I shared a picture from camp, a secondary school mate commented and said ‘old corper’. It was funny at the time but also somewhat annoying. You see, most of my secondary school mates who, like me, started their university education the year we graduated from secondary school completed their NYSC year 5 years ago, for those in 4-year courses and 4 years ago for those in 5-year courses.

I remember seeing their pictures in corp uniforms and being somewhat upset because I was still years from graduation (medical school). Then, I consoled myself with the fact that I was going to be a doctor so it would be worth it.

If you know anything about medical school in Nigeria, you would be aware that safe for private universities and possibly the University of Ilorin, students typically spend more than the prescribed 6 years getting their medical degrees.

This is due to no fault of theirs and solely as a result of deficiencies in the education system and Nigeria as a whole. In some cases, medical students spend 10 years in school even though they had no carryovers and passed their exams at one sitting.

Following this, people begin the search for internship placement. While you are now a doctor, you still have to complete a 1-year internship where you are trained to handle cases on your own, with less supervision. The process of getting internship placements is quite tedious and some people spend over a year at home looking for a spot.

Some would argue that they wait that long because they are choosy. But if you see the working conditions they are running away from, you would understand why they would rather wait. You finally get a placement and work under rigorous conditions for a year.

Next up is NYSC. One annoying thing about this part is how the COVID-19 pandemic has messed up the calendar. Some of my classmates who I graduated with are still waiting to be deployed.

Without the NYSC certificate, one may have issues with securing jobs or government positions. The weird thing here is that SSCE holders are free from this ‘mandate’, and can go ahead to contest for elections or be appointed without spending a year in service to the nation.

Companies/government also use it to get cheap labour. I once got a job offer that made me quit the job I had at the time as the new job seemed like my dream job. I had a file opened and did all the formalities.

Shortly before I resumed, I was called that my salary would be reduced by over 60%, simply because I had not completed my NYSC. It really messed me up, especially since I had quit my other job. I still think about it some times and feel bad. A lot of job ads for doctors also include the ‘post-nysc’ tag. This is a major reason why most young doctors ensure they complete it.

We all know what NYSC entails. Even if you get posted to a ‘good’ location, the pay is almost always crappy. For doctors, it is a shocking development. Even though they now have at least one year of working experience, they get paid less than they earned as fresh graduates.

Contrary to popular belief, doctors get paid the same FG allawee that other corp members get, be it N19,800 or N33,000. The remuneration from the primary place of assignment(PPA) varies from place to place but it is still appalling. One would think that after going through all of this, you would at least get some respite for your struggles. But this is not so.

The average doctor spends about 8 to 13 years from 100 level to the end of NYSC. In this time frame, their supposed mates who studied 4 or 5-year courses would have at least 5 years of working experience while they are just facing the reality of the job market in their late 20s to early 30s. The fact that these years of work are still not fairly compensated makes one wonder if it is worth it.

Almost every sector in Nigeria is ‘going through it’. So it may be unrealistic to expect the health sector to thrive in the midst of chaos. I recall getting hints and bits of the state of the sector while in 200level and I really thought to myself ‘it would be better by the time I graduate’.

Now 3 years post-graduation, things appear to be worse than they were then, in the sector and the country as a whole. This makes it harder to believe that it would get better any time soon.

For the young doctor/medical student reading this, I don’t want you to feel completely helpless or defeated. Instead, I want you to realise that your life and your future are in your hands. Being in Nigeria may have posed extra challenges on your path, but you can do your bit to change what you can.

Actively think about the future you want and start working on it already, even if you’re a student. It can be daunting because you don’t even know what to ‘work on’. I have been there and I am still there in some ways.

What I have found in my experience is that the more you research, read, network and actually act, you begin to get some clarity. Taking action is the most important, the research, reading and networking just help you take steps in the right direction. These are steps that need to be taken even before service year, although it’s not too late if you are just starting.

A colleague and friend of mine told me how he increased monthly patient influx at his PPA by over 100%, while making other improvements and still studying for exams. This equipped him with skills that were not taught in medical school and have since opened major doors for him. This would not have happened if he was not intentional (There should be a post on this if I ever get around to editing the draft).

It would be really awesome if the NYSC scheme can be modified/ strengthened or eliminated at this point. But since that is not the case, we have to make the best of it. This is one of the reasons why I set up the Doctors Without Steths community, to equip medics with skills not taught in medical school while creating a safe space for support.

This Twitter thread of people trading NYSC experiences from decades ago gives a glimpse into what NYSC aimed to achieve. I wonder if any impact analysis has been conducted at some point to assess the impact and justify the continued existence of the scheme, and the money spent on it.

It seems like there is no real purpose to NYSC anymore. However, without the scheme, a lot of communities would lack doctors. It still serves as a means of employment and income for young graduates, even though the salary is little. It also employs a lot of civil servants who would lose their jobs if the scheme were to be scrapped.

This dilemma is one I have not figured out how to deal with. Someone mentioned using the NYSC budget to fund quality basic education instead. Would that be a more cost-effective use of the money?

When I started this post, I wasn’t sure what direction it would go. I just wanted to share my thoughts on this compulsory scheme. I think I did that fairly enough.

Yours in service,

Sisikunmi.