TOO BAD: 89% Of Corps Members Can’t Write And Speak Good English?

The often repeated verdict that Nigerian universities produce half-baked graduates was re-emphasized on Thursday as the Kano State Coordinator of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, Mr. Sanusi Abdulrasheed, revealed that about 89 per cent of corps members in the country can neither write good application letters nor communicate effectively in English Language.

Instead, he lamented what he called the use of “broken English” as a means of communication among majority of the corps members.

Mr. Abdulrasheed made the worrisome disclosure in Kano yesterday during the passing out parade (POP) of the Batch C corps members, where he noted that the findings were based on a nationwide research facilitated by the management of the scheme.

He told outgoing corps members: “I don’t want you to feel insulted, but it is a statement of fact. The management of NYSC noticed one thing in you; that a bulk of you were not communicating effectively in English.

“The NYSC researched into what you were writing in the form of applications for one thing or the other. The management noticed that about 89 percent of NYSC members could not write a good application.”

Citing an instance, Mr. Abdulrasheed stated that, “a majority of you start writing application with their name like: “I, Sanusi Abdulrasheed, hereby…,” pointing out that any application with such an introduction would not impress anybody.

“You should know that the point of communicating to the world is through application. When you start wrongly, those that know the use of language would know that such a person lacks communication skills and such an application would be put into the dustbin.

“This is a word of advice. It is never too late. You can adjust, go and perfect your use of English Language.

“And as parents and officials of the NYSC, we have a duty to let you know that you are not doing well when it comes to English Language communication and writing,” he added.

The NYSC state coordinator urged the erstwhile corps members not to feel too big, but to, “go and buy primary and secondary school books, therein you would learn many ways of writing good applications.”

Giving the passing out corps members a word of advice, Mr. Abdulrasheed charged them to put into practice the vocational skills learnt during orientation camp and become self employed instead of waiting for white collar jobs.

Source: Sun News