Why National Youth Service will make youth competitive

 By Davis Akampurira

The ruling National Resistance Movement (NRM) parliamentary retreat at the National Leadership Institute- Kyankwanzi adopted a resolution to introduce a national youth service programme. This programme is long overdue considering the fact that a number of countries in the region and globally long embraced this idea and the dividends have been impressive.

Countries like Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Nigeria, Egypt, South Africa, etc, have made national youth service mandatory, it is a basic requirement for any youth who has graduated from university or tertiary institute.

At the time Uganda is facing unemployment among youth, such a programme would go a long way in instilling the right ideological outlook among our youth, enable them appreciate the values of hard work and patience, discipline, sacrifice for country and subsequently prepare them to face life armed with the right attitude and practical skills in this dynamic and highly competitive environment.

National service would enable society mould an all-round citizen as opposed to the citizen who prides himself/herself in a university paper degree or diploma certificate without any positive qualities or competences to prove their worth.

The idea of national youth service comes at such a critical moment when we are asking ourselves so many questions on how we can efficiently harness and properly channel the immense energy of the youth into production and productivity.

The misguided energy of the youth is the reason we see so many youth rallying behind politicians to demonstrate and battle against Police on the streets. Because the youth most of the time are idle and redundant, they have more often than not fallen prey to the manipulations of politicians who would hire them for a day's meal to fight politicians' battles with government.

 And if we continue misdirecting this energy, then we are in for terrible disaster as a country! According to official statistics, the youth form the biggest demographic at 78% of the population of 37.5million Ugandans.

The same statics also tell us that Uganda has the second youngest population in Africa at 83% after Niger. In addition, World Bank figures put the unemployment rate at 83%, owing to the fact that each year about 400,000 youth graduate from universities, tertiary institutions and colleges of which only 8,000 are lucky to find formal employment.

The rest are left to languish on streets looking for elusive jobs. This is the time-bomb that so many people are talking about!

The Government has undertaken several interventions aimed at empowering the youth; these include UPE, USE, university/tertiary education, Youth Livelihood Programme, NAADS youth empowerment programme, Skilling Uganda, as well as youth leadership structures that have introduced the youth to the arena of governance.

The biggest challenge, however, is how to translate all these programmes into tangible production and productivity. Why is it that almost all the educated youth are flocking urban areas in search of opportunities and yet opportunities exist even in the rural communities?

We must as national leaders think of ways of re-instilling a sense of discipline and attitudinal/mindset change so as to make our youth more productive. When compared with other regional countries such as Kenya, our youth are the least productive in the region and needless to say that they are the most unemployable, according to recent surveys by the World Bank. Our youth are the least employable because they don't have credible skills to make them competitive in the region. It is commonly observed that one Kenyan can do a job which requires six Ugandan youth! In other words, the productivity of one Kenyan is six times more than that of a Ugandan!

The national youth service scheme would enhance practical skills among youth under the public-private sector partnership. Under this arrangement, youth graduating from universities and/or tertiary institutes could be posted to interact with the real world of work.

The Government can sign contracts or memoranda of understanding with private sector companies or organisations and task them (private sector) to accommodate a given number of youth for training or apprenticeship.

For instance, part of the money allotted for Youth Livelihood Programme could be channeled to the private sector for this special purpose of training youth. This is how we can develop a workforce which is productive for national development.

Some people are misconstruing national service for "ideological indoctrination" or "militarisation of the citizenry". This isn't the case, let's all support this noble idea.

The writer is team leader of the African Leadership Forum