AN OPEN APPEAL TO THE NYSC MANAGEMENT AND NATIONAL ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON YOUTH DEVELOPMENT: A CALL TO SCRAP OR REFORM THE NATIONAL YOUTH SERVICE CORPS (NYSC) IN THE INTEREST OF GRADUATE SAFETY
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write as a concerned Nigerian graduate and youth with a heavy heart regarding the continued abduction, injury, and loss of lives of corps members across the country due to insecurity.
The NYSC scheme was established in 1973 by General Yakubu Gowon with a noble objective: to foster national unity, integration, and reconstruction after the civil war. That purpose was timely and patriotic at that time. However, Nigeria of 1973 is not Nigeria of 2026.
Today, the primary threat to the average youth is not disunity, but insecurity. Our roads have become hunting grounds for kidnappers, bandits, and terrorists. Every batch of corps members travelling from Lagos to Sokoto, from Port Harcourt to Borno, from Enugu to Zamfara, are exposed to grave danger. We have read countless reports of corps members abducted on their way to orientation camps, kidnapped on PPA journeys, and attacked in remote local government areas where they were posted to serve.
My humble advice and recommendations are as follows:
1. The Security Reality Has Outgrown The Scheme:
Parents no longer sleep when their children are posted far from home. A first-class graduate who survived 4-5 years in university should not be kidnapped and killed or made to pay millions in ransom just because he wants to serve his country. No nation should demand such a sacrifice from its youths.
2. The Scheme Has Lost Its Core Purpose:
The idea of unity is no longer achieved by forced posting. Nigerians now interact and unite more through education, business, social media, and inter-marriage than NYSC ever enforced. Many corps members serve in schools where they are not paid or in offices where they do nothing for 12 months. The year has become a waste of productive life for many.
3. If Total Scrapping Is Not Possible, Then Reform It:
If the government insists NYSC must remain, then please consider this more humane alternative that will drastically reduce abductions:
ALLOW GRADUATES TO SERVE IN THE STATE WHERE THEY FINISHED THEIR HIGHER INSTITUTION.
A student who schooled in Lagos should serve in Lagos. A student who schooled in Enugu should serve in Enugu. By this, we will achieve the following:
a) No more dangerous interstate travel by road, which is where 90% of abductions happen.
b) Corps members will serve in an environment they already know, with family and support systems nearby.
c) It will reduce the burden on the government to provide accommodation and security in volatile areas.
d) It will still allow service to the nation without risking lives unnecessarily.
Alternatively, NYSC can be made optional and not mandatory for employment, or converted to a fully remote/virtual community service programme, or a paid skill acquisition and employment preparation year.
Conclusion:
Sir, with all due respect, no certificate is worth the blood of a Nigerian youth. We cannot keep sacrificing our graduates on the altar of a 50-year-old scheme while kidnappers are making a business out of it. The best way to show that the government values its youths is to protect their lives first.
I therefore passionately appeal to the committee to consider either scrapping NYSC completely or as an immediate intervention, allowing all prospective corps members to serve in their state of institution or state of residence.
Our lives matter more than posting letters.
Yours faithfully,
A Concerned Nigerian Youth
@officialnyscng @nysc_ng @nysc360