The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, has revealed that the NYSC saves state governments between ₦30 billion and ₦40 billion annually through the deployment of corps members across key sectors.
Nafiu disclosed this on Monday at the Stakeholders’ Consultative Forum on NYSC Reform held in Abuja, where discussions centred on repositioning the 52-year-old scheme to meet current national and global realities.
Highlighting the critical importance of the scheme at the sub-national level, the DG stated, “As a matter of fact, no state can survive today without the NYSC.”
“We have saved some states up to the tune of ₦30bn, ₦40bn annually when we deploy corps members,” he said.
He disclosed that the FCT alone benefits from the deployment of over 400 doctors yearly through NYSC, noting that such manpower would be difficult to recruit outright by the government.
“FCT, for instance, gets about 400 doctors from the NYSC annually. There is no way the Honourable Minister will put out adverts and get 400 doctors recruited in one year. The same goes for Lagos State and other states of the federation,” Nafiu added.
The DG also revealed that some states reach out to the NYSC when faced with education sector crises, requesting specific deployments to bolster teaching staff and improve outcomes.
“Some states approach us and say they have a crisis in the education sector. How do we come in? They want a certain percentage of corps members deployed to remedy the situation, and we oblige,” he said.
According to him, the results of such interventions have been evident over time. “Results after a couple of years are there for anyone to verify when results start coming out,” he stated.
Speaking further, Nafiu said the scheme has grown remarkably since its inception in 1973.
“Today, 52 years later, we are mobilising 400,000 annually. And from our projection… we expect that 650,000 locally trained graduates will come knocking to serve their fatherland next year,” he said.
The increase, he explained, is based on data from 419 accredited Corps Producing Institutions (CPIs) across the country.
No State Can Survive Without Corps Members
In his address, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, echoed the DG’s remarks, stating that no state government can function effectively without NYSC members.
“There is no government, state government that can survive without corps members — in education, in health, in agric, in sports, in whatever area,” he said.
He described the NYSC as an essential driver of grassroots development and a critical national asset.
The minister emphasised the need to modernise the scheme, aligning it with contemporary expectations and realities.
“We must recognise that this scheme needs to move with the times, and also accept that the time is moving beyond the scheme,” he said.
Olawande also called for a review of the NYSC posting system to match corps members with their skills and qualifications.
“We still find corps members in places that are not related to their academic and professional training,” he said. “We must review the current posting system to connect corps members with their skills area.”
Also speaking at the forum, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, stressed the need for collective commitment to the reform process.
“No reform of this scale can succeed without collaborative participation,” she said.
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