By George OGUNJIMI (jurisrepubliclegal@gmail.com)
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) was conceived at a very different moment in Nigeria’s history. Established in 1973, barely three years after the end of the Nigerian Civil War, the scheme was intended to help heal a divided nation by bringing young Nigerians from different ethnic, cultural and geographical backgrounds together. Its objectives include promoting national unity, patriotism, self-reliance and national development.
For more than five decades, the NYSC has, therefore, represented one of Nigeria’s most ambitious attempts at nation-building through the deliberate movement of young graduates across the country. Corps members have taught in schools, worked in hospitals, assisted communities and participated in various national programmes. The scheme has also provided millions of young Nigerians with the opportunity to live and work outside their states of origin. According to the NYSC’s own 2023 report, more than 5.5 million graduates had been mobilised by December 2023.
But Nigeria has changed dramatically since 1973.
The country today faces security challenges that were hardly imaginable when the NYSC was established. Banditry, kidnapping, terrorism, communal violence and other forms of insecurity have made some parts of the country increasingly dangerous. This raises a difficult but unavoidable question: should Nigeria continue to deploy young graduates into areas where their safety cannot be adequately guaranteed?
This is not an argument against national service. Rather, it is an argument for taking a fresh and honest look at the structure of the scheme and determining whether it remains fit for purpose in today’s security environment.
When national service becomes a security risk
The greatest concern surrounding the NYSC today is the vulnerability of corps members.
A corps member is usually a young graduate, often in their early twenties, who has little or no experience dealing with armed criminals or navigating areas affected by violent conflict. Yet the structure of the scheme may require such a person to leave the familiarity and security of home and take up an assignment hundreds of kilometres away.
Under the original philosophy of the NYSC, posting young Nigerians to states other than their states of origin was meant to promote understanding, tolerance and national integration. That objective remains admirable. Indeed, the NYSC identifies national unity and integration as central to its mandate.
However, national integration should not come at the price of human lives.
A country cannot reasonably tell its young citizens that they must leave their homes in the name of national unity while failing to provide adequate protection when they are exposed to serious security threats. Patriotism should never be interpreted as a willingness to become a casualty of insecurity.
The fundamental responsibility for the safety of citizens belongs to the state. Corps members should not be treated as expendable simply because their service is compulsory.
The human cost of insecurity
Behind every corps member is a family.
When a young graduate receives a posting to another state, parents may worry about accommodation, transportation, healthcare and the general conditions of the place. In relatively peaceful communities, these concerns may be manageable. In areas affected by banditry or kidnapping, however, the anxiety becomes much greater.
For families, the possibility of abduction is not an abstract issue. A corps member could become vulnerable while travelling to a place of primary assignment, moving between communities or living in an area where security forces have limited control.
The psychological burden is equally significant. A young person who spends a year constantly worrying about kidnapping or violent attacks may find it difficult to concentrate on teaching, healthcare, community development or any other responsibility assigned to them.
There is also a wider consequence. When insecurity repeatedly threatens corps members, families may begin to view national service not as an opportunity for personal growth and national integration but as an unnecessary gamble with the lives of their children.
That would undermine public confidence in the scheme.
But does insecurity make NYSC useless?
Not necessarily.
It would be simplistic to argue that the existence of insecurity automatically makes the NYSC obsolete. The fundamental objectives of the scheme remain relevant.
Nigeria still needs mechanisms that encourage young people to interact across ethnic, religious and regional boundaries. The country still needs young professionals to contribute to education, healthcare, rural development and other areas where their skills are needed. Most importantly, Nigeria still needs institutions capable of developing a sense of shared national identity.
The NYSC’s objectives explicitly include developing common ties among Nigerian youths, promoting national unity, removing prejudice and encouraging young Nigerians to understand the similarities among different ethnic groups.
These objectives are arguably even more important in a country experiencing social and political divisions.
The problem, therefore, may not be the idea of national service itself. The problem may be that the model has not evolved quickly enough to reflect Nigeria’s changing realities.
Time for a Serious Review
Rather than simply abolishing the NYSC or defending it unquestioningly, the Federal Government should undertake a comprehensive review of the scheme.
The first priority must be security-based deployment.
NYSC postings should be informed by credible, continuously updated security assessments. Areas experiencing active insurgency, widespread banditry or a high incidence of kidnapping should not receive corps members simply because the administrative process says they require manpower.
There should be clear security criteria for determining where corps members can be posted. Such decisions should involve the NYSC, security agencies, state governments and credible local intelligence structures.
Secondly, corps members should not be posted to isolated locations without adequate security arrangements.
It is one thing to deploy a graduate to a relatively secure urban centre. It is another to send that person to a remote community several hours away from meaningful security support. Where the security situation deteriorates after deployment, there must also be a rapid mechanism for withdrawing or redeploying corps members.
Thirdly, accommodation and transportation need greater attention.
A significant part of the vulnerability of corps members can arise from how they move and where they live. Government should work toward providing secure accommodation or vetted housing arrangements in high-risk areas. Official transportation arrangements should also be considered for movements involving particularly vulnerable locations.
Technology can help
Modern technology provides opportunities that did not exist when the NYSC was established.
Every corps member should have access to reliable emergency communication channels and location-based safety systems. The NYSC currently operates a 24-hour Distress Call Centre and provides a short code, 6972, for corps members and the public to seek urgent assistance.
But emergency response should go beyond waiting for a distress call.
A modern NYSC security system could incorporate regular digital check-ins, emergency alerts, location sharing with appropriate safeguards, rapid-response protocols and direct communication between corps members, NYSC officials and security agencies.
The objective should be simple: when a corps member is in danger, the authorities should know quickly and respond quickly.
Rethinking compulsory national service
Another issue that deserves serious public debate is the compulsory nature of the scheme.
The legal framework provides for eligible graduates to serve for one year, with specified exemptions.
Compulsory service made considerable sense in the context in which the scheme was created. Nigeria was emerging from a devastating civil war and needed deliberate mechanisms for rebuilding trust and national cohesion.
But more than five decades later, circumstances have changed.
Nigeria should therefore ask whether a single uniform model of compulsory service remains appropriate for every graduate and every part of the country.
A reformed system could retain national service while introducing greater flexibility. For example, graduates could be offered different forms of national service depending on their professional skills, location and prevailing security conditions. Some could serve in education, healthcare or community development; others could participate in digital, environmental, agricultural or entrepreneurship programmes.
The important thing is that national service should remain meaningful without unnecessarily exposing young Nigerians to danger.
Security must come before statistics
One danger of bureaucratic systems is that numbers can become more important than people.
A government may be concerned about meeting deployment targets, filling vacancies or maintaining the traditional structure of the NYSC. But behind every deployment number is a human being.
A corps member is someone’s child, sibling, friend and future professional.
No administrative target should be more important than that person’s life.
The NYSC itself currently identifies enhanced security and welfare of corps members and staff as one of the focal points of its leadership. This is an important recognition of the changing realities surrounding national service. The challenge is to turn that recognition into concrete policies that can be seen and felt by corps members across the country.
The states also have a responsibility
The Federal Government cannot bear the responsibility alone.
State governments that receive corps members must take their welfare seriously. Local authorities and host communities must also understand that corps members are not merely temporary workers sent to fill staffing gaps. They are young Nigerians entrusted to their care for a period of service.
Communities should therefore assist in identifying security threats, providing reliable information and creating safe environments for corps members.
Security agencies, too, must improve intelligence gathering and rapid intervention in areas where corps members are deployed.
Ultimately, the protection of corps members requires cooperation among the federal government, state governments, NYSC management, security agencies and host communities.
Abolition is not the only answer
There will inevitably be calls for the abolition of the NYSC whenever a corps member becomes a victim of insecurity. Such reactions are understandable, particularly for grieving families.
But abolishing the scheme without creating an alternative mechanism for youth development and national integration could produce another problem.
The better question is not simply, “Should NYSC continue?
The more important question is, What should national service look like in the Nigeria of today?
That is the debate Nigeria needs.
The country can preserve the best aspects of the NYSC while discarding practices that no longer fit present realities. National integration can be preserved. Community development can continue. Young people can still be exposed to different cultures and communities. But these objectives must be pursued within a framework that takes security seriously.
Conclusion
The NYSC was born out of a national crisis and designed to help Nigeria heal, unite and rebuild. More than fifty years later, Nigeria faces a different set of challenges, and the institution must evolve accordingly.
Banditry and kidnapping should not be allowed to turn national service into a dangerous lottery for young graduates.
The solution, however, should not necessarily be to throw away the entire idea of national service. Instead, Nigeria should revisit, reform and modernise the NYSC.
Security must become the foundation of every deployment. High-risk areas should be treated differently. Emergency response mechanisms should be strengthened. Accommodation and transportation should be made safer. Technology should be deployed more effectively. And the compulsory nature and structure of the scheme should be subjected to an honest national debate.
The real measure of patriotism is not how much danger citizens are willing to endure for their country. It is how seriously a country values the citizens who serve it.
Nigeria owes its young people an opportunity to serve, learn and contribute—but it also owes them the right to return home safely.
The NYSC may still be useful. But in an age of banditry, its usefulness must be measured alongside its responsibility to protect the very young Nigerians it was created to serve.
*George Ogunjimi Esq, a lawyer, former journalist, author, publisher and current affairs commentator writes from Abuja
