By: Dr. Tofunmi O. Ogunronbi
Imagine a young Nigerian finally graduating after years of school fees, rent, transport and the daily struggle to stay in school. The family celebrates. A parent begins to hope that the financial pressure will ease. Then the call-up letter arrives, and the graduate returns with another request: “Daddy, I have been posted. I need money to travel to camp.”
That conversation captures why I believe NYSC needs fundamental reform. We have to look beyond the mobilisation exercise and consider what a posting means inside a Nigerian home. The scheme must become more sensitive to the cost of service, the safety of graduates and the work they have already begun to build.
Consider a graduate living in the South-West who receives a posting to a distant northern state and has to raise a logistics budget of ₦60,000 or more. The bus ticket is one expense. There may also be feeding, local transport to the camp and a safe overnight stop. The exact bill will vary by route and circumstances, but imagine what a ₦60,000 demand means to a household already struggling to meet its needs.
For that family, the money may have to come from the mother’s trading capital, the father’s pension or a loan from a relative. A younger child’s school expenses may have to wait. The graduate may feel ashamed to ask, knowing how much the parents have already sacrificed. Yet there is a reporting date to meet.
We should take that pressure seriously. For a household with little money left after graduation, another compulsory expense can be exhausting. Before the young person has reached camp or begun to receive an allowance, the family must somehow finance the journey.
I want government to ask a practical question before issuing a distant posting: can this graduate do useful national service safely and effectively closer to where they live? Where the answer is yes, proximity should carry real weight. If a distant placement is necessary, affordable travel and suitable accommodation must form part of the arrangement.
Parents also carry the worry. They need to know the route, the estimated arrival time and whom to contact if something goes wrong. A late arrival or an unanswered phone can make a long journey frightening. The authorities must recognise that every corps member belongs to a family whose concern continues throughout service.
There is a second problem that troubles me deeply: the feeling that a graduate’s life has not properly started until NYSC is completed.
We need to change that message. A young Nigerian who has completed a degree has already achieved something substantial. A graduate who paid school fees through tailoring, food sales, farming or software work has also demonstrated initiative. Those efforts deserve recognition when the person enters national service.
The service certificate has its place, but a graduate’s ability to contribute should already matter. Some have customers, employees, professional experience or responsibilities at home. Their lives contain commitments that a posting cannot simply erase.
When service is organised as though every graduate is starting from nothing, it can interrupt the very progress we want young people to make. The graduate begins to think, “Let me finish NYSC first. After that, I will start my life.” A year can then pass without a clear connection to the person’s future.
I believe the service year should help a young Nigerian move forward from where they already are. That requires NYSC to understand the individual before deciding the location and nature of the assignment.
Consider the student who learned tailoring, bought a sewing machine and gradually built a customer base. The work helped pay school fees and provided some independence. By graduation, that student may have a small shop and an assistant who depends on the business.
Now imagine this graduate being posted far away and assigned to teach a subject they have neither trained nor chosen to teach. The sewing machine stays behind. Customers find another tailor. The assistant may have to leave. A business that grew through several years of effort can weaken while its owner tries to comply with service obligations.
By the final two or three months, the graduate’s attention may have shifted to CV writing and job applications. The question is no longer how to expand the business. It becomes how to find employment after NYSC. We need to examine what the service arrangement has done to a person who already had a way to earn a living.
A village deserves capable, motivated teachers, and graduates who want to teach should receive proper preparation and support. The tailor also has something useful to offer. Training apprentices, making affordable clothing or building a local fashion enterprise could serve a community while preserving the graduate’s livelihood.
This principle applies to other skills too. A graduate who repairs electrical equipment, grows food or develops software brings useful experience into the scheme. NYSC should identify that experience and arrange work through which it can grow.
I am not claiming that NYSC alone causes unemployment. My concern is a preventable loss: a working livelihood is disrupted, and the graduate leaves service without an equally useful alternative. We should measure how often this happens and make business continuity part of deployment planning.
There are graduates whose NYSC placements open doors and provide valuable experience. Those experiences deserve attention because they show the conditions that work. Every service pathway needs a suitable assignment, responsible supervision and a credible connection to life after service.
The danger of service-related travel makes reform even more urgent. On 1 October 2026, police confirmed an attack on two buses carrying prospective corps members and other passengers from Ibadan towards destinations in Abia and Akwa Ibom states. The attack occurred near Umunoha in Imo State. Police initially said the number still abducted was being verified. On 3 October, families reported that 20 prospective corps members had been kidnapped.
When a parent appeals for help after a child is abducted on the way to camp, government must hear the full weight of that appeal. The family has sent out a graduate expecting the child to report for national service. It now needs urgent assistance to bring that child home safely.
During my own NYSC period in 2009, I remember a brilliant first-class graduate from my school who died on her way back from orientation camp. I still think about her when I hear of another tragedy involving corps members. Her family had every reason to expect a future filled with the promise her academic achievement represented.
How many young Nigerians have died while travelling to camp, returning from orientation, going to their places of primary assignment or returning home after service? The country deserves an audited answer. A Sunday PUNCH investigation published on 25 September 2022 identified at least 40 corps-member road deaths between January 2018 and publication. It reported that many victims had been travelling to or from orientation camps. That finding covers a limited period and does not establish an all-time national toll.
NYSC should publish an annual account of service-related deaths, serious injuries and abductions, including the assistance provided and the changes made afterwards. Families deserve a clear explanation of what happened. The public needs to know how lessons from each incident will protect the next group of graduates.
Safety must influence a posting before the call-up letter is issued. A nearby assignment can reduce unnecessary travel, although short journeys also require proper safety assessment. Reporting deadlines should allow for safe arrival, and a graduate delayed by a security emergency should have a clear way to defer without punishment.
Where long-distance travel is necessary, the authorities should help arrange affordable transport through vetted operators, safe schedules and suitable stopovers. Emergency support should cover mobilisation, movement to an assignment and the journey home at the end of service. The family should know who is responsible for responding when trouble occurs.
I recognise why NYSC was established in 1973 after the civil war. Its purpose included rebuilding national unity and helping young Nigerians understand one another. That remains a worthwhile national objective.
We can pursue that objective through mixed service teams, shared civic training and joint projects involving Nigerians from different backgrounds. Longer exchanges can remain available to willing participants where security and accommodation have been assessed. Integration needs thoughtful organisation and meaningful contact between people.
The government has already acknowledged the need for change. On 29 June 2026, the Federal Ministry of Youth Development announced Federal Executive Council approval for reforms including deployment sensitive to security risks, primary assignments aligned with skills and careers, civilian operational leadership and a redesigned six-week orientation programme. The announcement also said amendments to the NYSC Act and regulations were to be commenced.
These commitments need to reach the graduate asking a parent for transport money. Reform should make a visible difference to where that graduate is posted, what work they will do and the prospects they will have afterwards. Government must publish how the changes will be implemented and how corps members can challenge an unsuitable arrangement.
A longer orientation period also requires careful examination. Six weeks away from a small business can mean lost orders and unpaid commitments. Leadership, civic education and business training are useful, but their delivery should fit the lives of participants. The value of a course must justify the time and expense it demands.
NYSC already has a Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme whose published responsibilities include mentoring, attachment to training organisations, monitoring and facilitating access to funding. These functions provide a foundation for a stronger enterprise pathway throughout the service year.
My proposed reform starts before mobilisation. Final-year students should complete an initial service profile and confirm it once their institutions clear them for service. The profile should record verified residence, qualifications, practical skills, existing employment or business activity and support needs. NYSC can then plan placements with a clearer understanding of each graduate.
Every eligible graduate should rank three preferred service locations, with a genuine opportunity to request places close to where they live. Proximity, route safety and the availability of suitable work should guide the choice.
NYSC’s published mobilisation guidance already describes choosing four available states from different geopolitical zones. I propose changing the basis of that selection so that three ranked preferences give meaningful weight to the graduate’s residence and circumstances.
Capacity and community needs will still matter. Where a preferred location is unavailable, NYSC should explain the decision, offer the nearest suitable alternative and provide an accessible appeal. Medical needs, disability, caregiving responsibilities and established businesses should be considered through published criteria. Families should not need influential contacts to obtain a reasonable decision.
The portal should also allow the graduate to choose a primary service pathway: work in a government agency or another approved institution, education service, or the development of a business. Professional placements within these pathways must match the qualifications required for the work.
The choice should reflect both interest and demonstrated ability. A graduate entering teaching needs appropriate preparation. Someone applying to an agency needs a defined role and a supervisor. An aspiring business owner needs a credible plan. NYSC should work with the graduate to establish what a productive year will involve.
For the enterprise pathway, an approved business should count as the corps member’s primary assignment. The graduate would remain accountable to NYSC, complete agreed civic learning and make a measurable community contribution. Daily work on the enterprise would be recognised as part of national service.
A fashion entrepreneur could produce clothing and train apprentices. A food processor could improve production and teach useful practices to other small producers. A software developer could build a viable product and contribute a digital tool to a community organisation. Such work can create public value while helping a graduate earn a living.
The scheme should distinguish someone starting a new business from someone who has already built one. The first needs preparation and support to test the idea. The second needs a plan to preserve and expand an existing livelihood. Neither should lose the time required to operate the enterprise through unrelated daily assignments.
I also propose that a corps member approved for enterprise service should be able to receive the full twelve-month allowance allocation in one upfront payment into a dedicated business account. An approved budget would show how the money will support the business and essential living costs.
For illustration, at the ₦77,000 monthly rate introduced in March 2025, twelve months amounts to ₦924,000. The applicable rate when the reform begins would determine the actual allocation. An approved business plan could direct that money towards equipment, stock or a defined stage of production.
A person whose monthly allowance goes into food, transport and accommodation may finish service without savings for a business. Paying the approved annual allocation upfront would give a prepared entrepreneur the opportunity to put part of it to productive use early in the year. Mentorship and a realistic spending plan would help make that opportunity useful.
The plan must reserve enough for basic living costs or show a dependable source of income. Corps members who prefer monthly support should retain that option. An enterprise participant must be able to meet essential needs while waiting for the business to generate revenue.
This payment would advance the approved annual allowance, so government would have to provide the funding earlier and establish lawful budget arrangements. Any proposed savings from changes to orientation should be assessed against the actual costs of training, supervision and welfare.
Public money needs proportionate checks, including verified identity, a dedicated account, receipts and regular progress reports. A genuine small business owner should be able to meet the requirements without hiring a consultant to explain the purchase of a sewing machine. Selection criteria, reasons for rejection and independent appeals should be published.
Honest business failure should lead to a review and support. Fraud or deliberate diversion should attract sanctions through a fair process. The scheme must also define what happens when a participant withdraws after receiving funding. Clear rules would protect the programme and the people using it.
NYSC staff should coordinate enterprise support and monitor participation, with training and manageable workloads. Technical mentorship should come from people with relevant business experience. A title alone will not equip someone to advise a graduate on production, pricing or finding customers.
Each enterprise corps member should be attached to a suitable organisation or experienced business owner for agreed mentoring sessions and practical learning. Fashion houses, manufacturers, farmers’ cooperatives and technology companies could participate. The attachment should support the graduate’s enterprise and specify what guidance will be provided.
The terms must protect the corps member. Mentors should not take control of allowances or demand sexual favours, political loyalty or labour unrelated to the agreed learning. An independent complaints channel should allow graduates to report abuse without putting their service certificates at risk.
Orientation itself needs to be reorganised around safety, access and useful preparation. Accredited centres closer to participants could deliver civic education, first aid, leadership and training for the chosen pathway. Online learning can support delivery where appropriate, with an accessible in-person option for those who need it.
Existing camp facilities could be developed into year-round centres for technical training and enterprise support. Workshops and classrooms could serve successive groups for practical sessions, with accommodation available for participants who need it for a particular course. Each facility should be assessed for suitability and running costs.
Scheduled local sessions would allow graduates to begin useful work promptly and receive further training during the year. Where residential training is needed, its purpose, duration and welfare arrangements should be clear. Unnecessary journeys and interruptions to productive activity should be reduced.
Institutional placements also need firm standards. Each host should provide a work plan, a responsible supervisor and a safe environment. Where a host repeatedly provides no useful work, NYSC should review its accreditation. Education placements should serve communities through willing, prepared graduates with proper support.
All pathways should carry a shared service obligation. Participants should complete civic learning, contribute to an agreed community project and demonstrate their work. An enterprise participant should earn the same recognised service certificate through verified activity. The scheme can maintain a common standard while recognising different forms of contribution.
Welfare must include accessible health care, counselling and confidential reporting. Complaints about harassment, sexual exploitation, harmful peer pressure or illicit activity should be investigated promptly and fairly. Corps members need protection against retaliation and a clear explanation of how their complaints will be handled.
Preparation for life after NYSC should begin when a graduate chooses a pathway. By the final quarter, an enterprise participant should have usable accounts and a plan for continuing operations. A professional participant should have a portfolio, credible references and access to real employment or further-training opportunities.
Public and private employers can help through fair recruitment and apprenticeship opportunities. NYSC cannot promise a job to every graduate, but it can ensure that the service year provides experience an employer can assess. A graduate should be able to explain what they learned and show the work they completed.
The scheme should measure whether these improvements last. Follow-up at six and twelve months can track business survival, suitable employment and further training. Public reports should disclose safety incidents, complaints, costs and results across the different pathways. These outcomes would give Nigerians a stronger basis for judging the value of the programme.
I propose that the President, the Ministry of Youth Development, NYSC management and the National Assembly publish a practical reform timetable within ninety days. It should address legal changes where required, deployment, orientation, enterprise funding and supervision. Corps members, parents, employers and host communities should help shape it.
A pilot across selected states and the Federal Capital Territory could test the model through a complete service year. It should include graduates with existing businesses, those starting enterprises and those choosing institutional work. An independent evaluation should compare safety, costs and outcomes before national expansion.
Nigeria has twelve months in which it can help young people become more capable business owners, professionals and public leaders. Some may eventually build companies on the scale of Dangote or Otedola. Others will run smaller enterprises that employ neighbours and support families. Future governors and presidents also need early experience of useful work and public responsibility.
The parent who struggled to raise a graduate deserves to see that year’s purpose. A mother should be able to understand why her child must travel, how the journey will be made safe and what the assignment will contribute to the child’s future. Government must be able to answer those questions plainly.
I will continue calling for a fundamental reform of NYSC because the lives and efforts of our young people deserve that attention. Make nearby, suitable postings a real option. Give graduates a voice in the work they will do. Help those building businesses to continue, and require every pathway to produce something useful for life after service.
A graduate has already started life. Some have already started paying the price of independence through work and enterprise. A reformed NYSC should recognise that progress and give them the support to take the next step.
