In a nation already grappling with youth discontent, economic stagnation, and institutional mistrust, the Nigerian government’s rumored plan to extend the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) from one year to two is what I liken to the battle proverb “for want of a nail, a war was lost.” Revealed by the Minister of education, Olatunji Alausa early April 2025, this initiative most likely aimed at deepening national unity and skill acquisition is only a threat to deepen the very hole it claims to mend. The initial programme of a year is far from realizing its promise, and then this extension, just an ignorant act that undermines the realities of Nigeria’s youth and the nation’s economy. This piece is set to explore why this must not happen.
To begin a discourse on exposing the reasons against a two-year NYSC programme, Nigeria’s youth, the heartbeat of its 220 million-strong population, are not strangers to struggle. With unemployment hovering at 40.6% in 2024 (per the National Bureau of Statistics) and inflation reducing purchasing power, graduates are already in murky waters before entering the workforce. The NYSC, launched in 1973 to foster unity after the events of the civil war, was designed as a one-year programme, a rite of passage combining service with opportunity. Extending it to two years doubles the burden on young Nigerians.
Now imagine six years of primary or elementary school, another six years of secondary school, four years of college and now probably two years of NYSC, just tell me that this is not a clear example of modern day slavery.
Nigeria’s economy no doubt is at an all-time low, after subsidy removals and series of naira devaluation, cannot afford to put its brightest minds in a programme that seems to be a shadow of it former self. The one-year NYSC already delays workforce entry; doubling it would choke the labor market further. Consider the tech sector, where Nigeria boasts hubs like Lagos’ Yaba Tech. A Mass Communication graduate like me, who aspires to join a media organization, would lose two prime years to camp trainings and underfunded community projects. Let me say that I would be 27 years before I start earning real money and enjoying the fruit of my labour.
Not only myself or millions of young Nigerians across the country but consider employers, who are already anxious to bring in fresh graduates lacking experience, would now have to deal with either over-aged or under-skilled applicants. Small businesses, desperate for youthful energy and young blood, would remain stagnant in a drying pool of talent. This could reduce innovation and entrepreneurship, something that has been said by economic experts. In a global race for digital and creative dominance, restraining Nigeria’s youth to an outdated program is economic sabotage.
Well as commonly said that not all fingers are equal some may decide otherwise. Proponents might argue that two years would deepen national unity, the initial purpose of NYSC. But this is what I regard as “tales by moonlight.” Decades of postings; Hausa graduates to Igbo lands, Yoruba corpers to the Niger Delta has not done much in reducing the ethnic bad blood; Boko Haram, IPOB, and cult clashes persist. The 2020 #EndSARS protests, led by young Nigerians and most likely corps members, exposed a generation more united by common frustration than by campfires in Sokoto or Enugu. Extending the program will not bridge the gap, rather it will widen them, as corps members who are posted to bandit-ravaged Zamfara may have to face heightened risks for longer.
Moreover, unity is not something that can be achieved through forced service but through equitable opportunities, create substantial jobs that suits the degree and studies of graduates, either develop existing infrastructure or create new ones, and ensure security. The government’s annual NYSC budget could fund vocational hubs or tech centers, or better still pay graduates immediately they finish their college programme, these are more tangible, instead of putting hope on a fading 1970s idealism..
The NYSC’s operational rot: corrupt postings, ghost corpers, and crumbling infrastructure makes extension a dangerous initiative. In 2017, Premium Times exposed how officials extorted N200,000 from graduates to secure urban placements. Doubling the duration doubles the corruption in the institution, eroding trust in a program already on life support. And then there is safety: 2024 saw corps members kidnapped or killed in various parts of the country, with the NYSC authorities offering little as condolences instead of measures to reduce insecurity. Two years in dangerous zones, imagine Rivers’ pipeline blasts or Borno’s insurgency turns service into a death sentence, not a duty.
Let me use an analogy of South Africa’s post-apartheid service programs last months, not years, focusing on skills, not symbolism. Nigeria’s government, rather than modernizing NYSC, is holding on to a dangerous and misguided belief. For every corps member, who survived a bandit attack in Katsina state for example, countless others have fallen victim.
To put the icing on the cake, this extension is an insult to democratic principles. Nigerian youths did not vote for prolonged servitude; they demand agency, not edicts. The 1999 Constitution’s Section 34 guards against forced labor, yet two years of mandatory, underpaid service shows otherwise. Let me say that the Nigerian youths are not pawns.
The alternative is clear: scrap the extension, let it remain a one-year programme, and redirect funds to jobs and education. Let graduates like myself build Nigeria through choice, not coercion. Anything less is opposing democracy, a promise already fading before been realized, as this plan looms, Nigeria must choose: empower its youth or put them in a two-year bondage. Posterity will judge harshly if it is the extension comes into execution.
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