NYSC to Get Major Changes After 53 Years

After 53 years, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is set to undergo major changes. The Federal Executive Council decided this on Monday. President Bola Tinubu signed a statement saying this is part of “creating meaningful opportunities for young Nigerians,” as he promised during his campaign.

The NYSC scheme started in 1973 under General Yakubu Gowon. It aimed to heal the wounds from the Civil War, which lasted from 1967 to 1970. Since then, it has promoted national unity and integration. Each year, graduates from universities and other schools are sent to states outside their home states for a mandatory 12-month service.

The first group had 2,300 young Nigerians under 30 years old, when Nigeria had only six universities in Ibadan, Nsukka, Zaria, Ife, Benin, and Lagos. Now, there are 312 universities, both private and public. In 2025, about 650,000 graduates were mobilized for service. The cost of this program is very high. Over the years, NYSC has provided a pool of cheap labor for state governments and the private sector, especially in education, health, legal, and technical fields, as well as during elections.

Some critics say the original goals of national integration and unity have been achieved. They argue that the program should be scrapped due to ongoing challenges. But the government believes it should adapt to current needs instead of being canceled.

The NYSC will now have a civilian-led leadership. It will become a national development platform focusing on skills acquisition, productivity, and employability. “The ambition to build a trillion-dollar economy places renewed emphasis on productivity, skills relevant, innovation and the efficient mobilisation of human capital,” is part of the reason for this policy change.

The new plan includes a six-week orientation camp instead of the current three-week camp. During this time, corps members will learn about citizenship, national values, leadership, life skills, national cohesion, career mapping, basic accounting, financial literacy, and business planning with access to financing over two weeks.

In the last two weeks, participants will be placed in specific training streams like EducCorp, AgriCorp, MediCorp, TechCorp, LegalCorp, and EntreCorp. Corps members will also be deployed according to their skills and academic backgrounds.

The government plans to be careful when sending corps members to states with security issues. Those who live, were educated, or are from those states will get priority. Others with security concerns will be sent to safer states nearby. This makes sense, as both parents and corps members have avoided risky postings. In 2011, for example, 10 corps members died in post-election violence in Bauchi State. Some have faced kidnapping, sexual violence, or death at the hands of bandits.

Clearly, the NYSC needs a revamp for better service. But we believe a wider national conversation should have happened before these changes. This would create a richer consensus and better outcomes. It would also protect the process from political influences. The president's positive comments about the reform support this point.

Energy is vital for innovation and entrepreneurship, but public officials often overlook it. Power supply is still very irregular across the country. A clear example is the presidential villa’s choice to switch to solar energy after a ₦46 billion electricity bill, which they said was not sustainable. No tech-driven economy can thrive on such poor electricity like Nigeria's.

In 2003, Professor Attahiru Jega led a committee on NYSC reform and submitted a report showing a desire to overhaul the scheme. This was 23 years ago, and those recommendations were not acted on. At an NYSC golden jubilee lecture in 2023, Mr. Jega mentioned recommendations like voluntary participation, specific qualifications for members, and better welfare. He said, “We should learn from…best practices to reposition the NYSC for more impactful contribution to national development in decades to come.” He was correct.

The open nature of the scheme has led to issues, including non-graduates joining. In 2017, NYSC Director-General Shuabu Ibrahim said, “Currently, we are investigating some of such so-called graduates, many of whom cannot write or spell a word in English.” He got help from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to fix this problem. The issue may have worsened since then.

In our editorial from 22 May 2023, titled “NYSC at 50: Repositioning for survival, better service,” we pointed out that “Graduates sometimes wait for three years or more after graduation before they are mobilised,” and suggested new ideas to solve this. We also called for voluntary participation and more competitive enlistment, like in Malaysia, Israel, Taiwan, and Chile, to make the system better.

Sadly, the number of mobilized graduates increases each year due to illegal admissions in universities. The problem only becomes clear when some of these graduates are not sent for NYSC, as JAMB gives universities the records of legally admitted students. Fixing this will need to address the actions of vice-chancellors, as former Minister of Education Adamu Adamu did from 2017 to 2022.

Lastly, for the NYSC to become a program focused on skills and innovation, the government must admit its failures in education. Clearly, underfunded universities and polytechnics with outdated facilities cannot produce graduates with needed skills.

The example from the US shows that tech innovation comes from quality high school education. Steve Jobs, Mark Zuckerberg, and Bill Gates built their tech companies without university degrees. To succeed, Nigeria must improve its basic education and secondary schools to create a culture of digital growth.

Nigerians will be eager to see what this reform means for our national values and leadership development that youths will learn in the camps. This is crucial, considering the lack of proper leadership and values in public life, which young people are very aware of.

Moreover, the certificate forgery issue in the 2026 Electoral Act, the ₦1.3 billion in the 2026 budget for a “fake agency” in Abuja, and the lack of accountability for it are all big ethical problems affecting our values.

Additionally, the rigging of political parties in their primaries last month and the buying and selling of votes are serious issues. These challenges put Nigeria's values under scrutiny and require clear definitions. These unfortunate legacies affect the youth orientation that the NYSC reform aims to improve.