As the 52-year-old National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharged the 2024 Batch C Stream II on the completion of their one-year mandatory service, marking the last of about 400, 000 young graduates it mobilises annually, realities and uncertainties of what next the future holds for them has heightened among the young graduates.
It would be recalled that on Thursday, December 18, 2025, the Batch C Stream II of 2024 session who were discharged after the one-year compulsory service had their passing out parade nationwide, reports Saturday Independent.
Indications are that the harsh economic situation in the country, sustainable seed capital and realities of academic training mismatch for a few available jobs are some of the challenges that may hinder post-NYSC employment opportunities for some of the discharged corps members.
Our findings showed that some of the discharged Corps members across the states of the federation are scared of their chances in the labour market.
Some expressed bitterly how to continue if the expected engagement is delayed, as the payment of the N77,000 monthly allowance paid by the government and pittance by Corps employers have seized from month end.
On the contrary, some of them expressed optimism to leverage on lifelong vocations for sustenance.
A female Corps member and graduate of English Language from University of Calabar, Eno Okonnah, lamented that her hope of being retained at the private school where she served turned out futile due to the number of her colleagues deployed to the school as Place of Primary Assignment.
Abigail Omotunde, a graduate of Ondo State University of Medical Sciences, expressed skepticism as the post- NYSC realities dawned on her.
She said, “The passing-out, end of service and thoughts about what next had preoccupied my mind in the last two months. I am a trained hair stylist, a marketer of hospital equipment and a fashion designer.
“I will decide on what to do in the next two weeks. I had a small shop before during undergraduate years and I do private practice on the campus serving my colleagues and other customers in the neighborhood. What I need is the seed capital to continue with the business to make ends meet,” she said.
Increasing Number of graduates
Over the years, the number of qualified graduates mobilised for the nation has not been stable due to factors bordering on school’s academic calendar, efficiency and effectiveness of school administrators, University and polytechnic graduation rates, backlogs from strikes or academic disruptions, and government admission policies, among others.
As the NYSC scheme routinely mobilised around 350,000 to 400,000 Corps members across its three annual batches of A, B, and C, managers of the only surviving post-civil war establishment have had to tinker on coping with the rising number of graduates trained locally and others from the Diaspora on employment generation.
The concerns led to the introduction of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme in 2012 to complement the scheme.
An official of the scheme, who chose anonymity, said the SAED has complemented the various efforts of both the federal and state governments in facilitating in-camp and post-camp skills acquisition training for corps members aside from annual automatic employment offered to exceptional corps members by governments and employers of labour.
Speaking on corporate partnerships in employment generation for the army of graduates mobilised annually for the scheme, the official said the NYSC/corporate partnership model remains a key pillar of Nigeria’s job creation and youth empowerment strategy, especially for post-service employment and entrepreneurship.
He disclosed that thousands of Corps members have been trained and benefited from start-up funds annually under the SAED/ corporate partnerships initiative.
Standardised Entrepreneurial Training
Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, the Director General (DG) of the Scheme, within the week disclosed at the 2025 second SAED stakeholders’ summit in Abuja of plans to overhaul the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) training for Corps Members through standardisation of the curriculum for deeper impact.
He described the SAED programme as a pillar of youth empowerment in Nigeria, having trained more than 3.18 million Corps Members in entrepreneurship and workplace readiness training since 2012 with over 30,000 businesses formally registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).
The DG revealed further that Corps Members were being mainstreamed into the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme as well as global remote work opportunities through initiatives like Outsource to Nigeria, NYSC jobs.ng, and the SAED SME toolkit.
In an interview with our correspondent, Mrs Ayodeji Megbope, the Founder of Ayodeji Megbope Inspires Mentoring Academy, urged discharged corps members never to be swayed by the much talked about economic difficulties in the country, saying breakthroughs are possible for discerning minds.
She said, “If a woman, who started at 40, with N1000, with children mocked for stew-smelling uniforms, standing at the gate of a school hawking moin-moin, can rise to own a restaurant and now a Wellness Centre, then your possibilities are limitless.”
Mrs Megbope encouraged all discharged corps members to dispel the fear of what next, strengthen their skills, build competence and be positioned for sustainable success.
