I really wish it was just a yes or no answer. It's much more in-depth than I wrote, much deeper than I can explain. We as a country have issues, even though not everything reported on the news is correct, I am not going to delude myself that everything is all good. There are states(Northern) in my country where graduates can't be posted to because of tribal wars and sect terrorist attacks (you might have come across the term Boko haram). I can't really discuss all that on the comment section.

But No, it isn't formalities. It is a mandatory service. The CDS part of it is realistically achieved through dedicated youths who really want to make a change.