Making Citizens 'National': Analysing the Impact of Ghana's National Service Scheme (NSS) and Nigeria's National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)

Both in popular and academic discourse, ethnic diversity or particular ethnic distributions are commonly associated with negative macro-societal outcomes, including political instability and outbreaks of violence (e.g. Reynal-Querol, 2002; Collier and Hoeffler, 2002), lower levels of economic growth (e.g. Easterly and Levine, 1997; Alesina et al., 1999) and less provision of public goods (e.g. Miguel & Gugerty, 2005; Easterly and Levine, 1997). Ever since Africa’s decolonisation in the 1960s, many African countries therefore implemented and continue to implement policies of nation-building in an attempt to foster a sense of national unity that would override ethnic affiliations with a spirit of common citizenship and loyalty to the state (Berman, 2004).

National service programmes constitute one of these nation-building policies. National youth service programmes aim to contribute to the nation-building objective by mobilizing young university graduates to conduct public service in parts of the country outside their areas of origin. The programmes are premised on the idea that intergroup contact and interaction between youths from different regions, ethnic groups, and religions will lead to increased intergroup understanding, reduced prejudices, and increased feelings of togetherness (Pitner, 2007). At the same time, national service programmes are believed to contribute to economic development and literacy rates in rural areas while providing the participants with useful skills and job opportunities (Obadare, 2007).

Yet, In spite of the prevalence of national service programmes in Africa, research specifically focusing on the impact and functioning of national youth service programmes is extremely limited and primarily qualitative in nature (e.g. Marenin, 1989; Maakwe, 1992; Molefe, 2001; Patel, 2009; Moleni, 2007; Obadare, 2010). This dissertation aims to address this important academic lacuna by analysing the impact of two of the largest and oldest mandatory national youth service programmes in Africa: Ghana’s National Service Scheme (NSS) and Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). The dissertation builds upon and contributes to two broad traditions of research which have developed in comparative isolation: sociological and social-psychological work on the contact hypothesis (e.g. Brown & Hewstone, 2005; Pettigrew, 1998; Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006; Tausch & Hewstone, 2010) and, political and historical research on nation-building processes in Africa (e.g. Berman et al., 2004b; Dorman, Hammett, & Nugent, 2007). This study addresses three empirical research questions: (1) To what extent are prospective national service participants willing to take part in the programmes? And how can differences in terms of engagement with the programmes between different participants be explained theoretically and empirically? (2) Does participation in national service result in more positive attitudes towards people from other ethnic groups? Under what conditions? (3) Do national service programmes contribute to national unity by strengthening national identity? Under what conditions?

In order to answer these research questions, a quasi-experimental design was implemented whereby several cohorts of national service participants completed online surveys both before and after participating in the national service programme.

Regarding the first research question, the findings in chapter 2 of this dissertation indicate that, on average, students are very much looking forward to participating in national service in both countries. This high willingness to participate in the programme can first and foremost be explained by the perceived benefits of national service for career opportunities and personal development. Second, students are generally more willing to participate if they trust the national service administration and are convinced of the effectiveness of the programme. Finally, respondents who identify more strongly with their national identity are more eager to participate in the national service programme.

In response to the second research question, chapter 3 analyses the impact of national service participation on two outgroup attitudes: ethnic stereotypes and preferences for co-ethnic relations (social distance scale). The findings show a clear presence of ethnic stereotypes and preferences for co-ethnic social relations in contemporary Ghana and Nigeria. Interestingly, in both countries, the empirical analysis show no systematic changes – i.e. improvements – in the stereotype ratings among participants as a result of their national service. On the other hand, the analysis did reveal a significant effect of national service on preferences for co-ethnic social relations in the Ghanaian sample but not in the Nigerian sample. Additional analyses in chapter 3 show that intergroup contact and intergroup friendships during national service are crucial factors for explaining the effects of national service on reducing co-ethnic preferences in both country-samples.

The third research question is addressed in chapter 4. This chapter analyses the impact of national service on feelings of national attachment, measured by national pride. In both samples, the results show the presence of a significant positive effect of national service participation on the national pride item. Respondents who completed national service are significantly higher on this item after service than their counterparts in the cohort control group. Moreover, additional analyses reveal that the effect of national service is the strongest for participants who experienced more frequent and especially more meaningful intergroup interactions during their national service year. Hence, these findings support Pitner’s (2007) claim that these programmes work because they stimulate intergroup interactions.

The findings in this dissertation therefore provide empirical support for the nation-building potential of national service programmes and the mediating role of intergroup contact in this process. The fifth and final chapter discusses the implications of these findings, the limitations of the study, avenues for future research, and several policy recommendations.