In 1999, when I went to the Faculty of Arts, University of Lagos notice board to check my posting for the National Youth Service Corps scheme, it was with a mixture of urgency and excitement, especially having spent six months at home after graduating in August 1998. In those days, graduates looked forward to the youth service with relish and a compelling feeling to explore new regions. For many graduates, it was the only opportunity to travel to other parts of the country alone without the admonishing eyes of their parents. In the good old days, the farther one was posted to any part of the country, the better. As I anxiously scanned through the board with other graduates, I expected to be posted to Kano, Kaduna, Plateau, Niger or any part of northern Nigeria. I didn’t mind. Since I hail from the Southeast and attended school in the Southwest, it was inevitable that I would be posted anywhere but the Southeast and Southwest. But alas, Kwara State was next to my name. I was happy. Parents didn’t lobby to have their children posted to any part of the country, at least not with the level of determination as is the case now. And so, I travelled to Kwara State for the first time, straight to Yikpata Camp, in Edu Local Government Area.
The National Youth Service Corps has come a long way since it was established by the Yakubu Gowon military government in 1973. According to Gowon, the primary purpose of establishing the scheme was to encourage integration and foster unity among graduates following the end of the civil war which had sufficiently fractured the country’s structural harmony. It was a welcome development. University graduates and their parents embraced the scheme. As an official policy, graduates are not posted to their state of origin or the state where they attended university. It gives many graduates the opportunity to travel to other parts of the country and learn about a new culture. In many cases, corps members found favour in their places of primary assignment, settled down there, married, and pursued a career. Although the scheme has had many challenges over the years, it was a success story until recently. As the years roll over, different tragic narratives follow the scheme ranging from the death of corps members at the hands of bandits and terrorists, death of corps members through road accidents, hostile reception by the host communities, death of corps members used as ad-hoc staff during elections, and many other blood-chilling incidents.
In the current era, parents lobby to have their children posted to states they consider safe. It has become a racket within the NYSC official community. No one would blame these parents. The pain of losing a child after toiling to pay school fees and provide other educational essentials for the child is nightmarish. Many corps members have been kidnapped and sometimes killed by terrorists and bandits in different parts of the country. Apart from the social media angst, the government does nothing to address the situation, apprehend the culprits or empathize with the parents. Thus, youth corps members have become cannon fodder used as sacrificial lambs to appease the demons in whose vicious grip Nigeria suffocates. Today, many families have not recovered from the anguish of losing their graduate children who died while serving their fatherland. Where are their tombs and memorials? How are these families coping? There is a case of a widow who struggled to send her only son to university. The boy graduated with a first class in Accounting but was brutally hacked down by terrorists in Borno State. The widow went into depression, lost her sanity, and eventually died. Many families have similar stories to tell.
Given the above scenario, many parents who can afford a foreign Master’s Degree send their children abroad immediately after they graduate without bothering about the NYSC. Therefore, an otherwise exciting scheme which youths looked forward to has become an abominable scheme to be despised and rejected. These days, the children of many politicians and government appointees do not participate in the NYSC scheme due to the snares and dangers associated with it. That way, the scheme has become a service year for graduates from average, middle-class families. Those who can afford it lobby and have their children serve in either Lagos, Abuja, or Port-Harcourt, the safest cities in the country. But those who cannot afford the lobbying fee kneel and pray to God to protect their children during the service year when they are posted to different parts of the country. These developments have led to the call for the scrapping of the NYSC because, according to the proponents of these calls, the scheme has outlived its usefulness. Instead of unity, it breeds disunity. Instead of excitement, it breeds death and sorrow. At the end of every academic session, parents do not want their children to embark on the NYSC scheme. They no longer trust the process.
Besides the conditions highlighted above, corps members are grossly underpaid and exploited. Their welfare package and conditions of service are a caricature of what was obtained in the scheme many years ago. At the orientation camps, corps members are fed like prisoners with substandard food. This is despite the large amount of money earmarked by the government for their feeding. The question is – why are corps members not properly fed after the government earmarks a huge amount for the same purpose? Who is responsible for these tasks? Why should some people become billionaires through funds meant for the well-being and feeding of youth corps members? Besides their feeding, many of the orientation camps are dilapidated. Some of the buildings have broken roofs, ceilings, windows, and doors. They lack basic conveniences, so corps members answer the call of nature and shower inside bushes. Is it possible that the government is not aware of these developments? The uniform of the corps members also deserves to be upgraded, given the amount of money the government earmarks to dress each member. It is degrading to see corps members dress in a poor quality uniform which fades a month or two into the service year.
As NYSC clocks 52, the federal government has a huge responsibility to respond and reposition it for excellence. The idea behind the scheme is commendable, but many issues as highlighted above, threaten its existence and the federal government can no longer play the ostrich. The current DG of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, who was recently appointed on March 6, 2025, has a responsibility to sustain the NYSC and ensure it does not die through collective abandonment. Nigerian graduates who want to serve their fatherland must be protected and catered for by the government. The life of every corps member should be insured during the service year so that in case of any eventuality, bodily harm or sundry misfortune, the families of these corps members would be compensated. Although the compensation may not assuage the misfortune, it will go a long way to assuage feelings of loss and helplessness.
All the NYSC orientation camps should be refurbished every year before corps members arrive. The buildings should be upgraded to a manageable standard to provide basic comfort for our graduates. The state governments and local government chairmen should ensure that corps members posted to their states and local governments are adequately catered for and protected. Also, establishments or institutions where these corps members are posted should rise to the occasion and make them comfortable. Nigeria’s frontiers of exploitation must not be extended to these young graduates. It is a defeatist attitude to insist these young Nigerians should serve their fatherland while they are left to the whims and caprices that populate our social spaces. As a matter of official importance, the federal government should resuscitate NYSC and rescue it from the doldrums. The original idea of the scheme as a nation-building program must be restored.
