NYSC Releases 400,000 Graduates, Strengthening Nigeria’s Labour Force

The 52-year-old National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharged the 2024 Batch C Stream II after completing their one-year mandatory service, making them the final of approximately 400,000 young graduates it mobilizes each year. As a result, the young graduates’ realities and doubts about their future have increased.

Recall that the passing out procession was held nationwide on Thursday, December 18, 2025, for the Batch C Stream II of 2024 session who were released following a year of mandatory service.

Some of the hurdles that may impede post-NYSC career chances for some of the discharged corps members include the nation’s severe economic conditions, sustainable seed capital, and the realities of academic training mismatch for a few accessible occupations.

It was revealed that several of the discharged corps members in the federation’s states are afraid for their employment prospects. Given that the government’s N77,000 monthly allowance and corps employers’ pittance had been seized since the end of the month, several stated bitterly how they would proceed if the anticipated engagement was delayed.

Conversely, some of them expressed hope that they would be able to rely on lifelong careers to support themselves.

Eno Okonnah, a female corps member and University of Calabar English Language graduate, bemoaned the fact that the quantity of her colleagues assigned to the school as Place of Primary Assignment made it impossible for her to stay at the private school where she served.

Ondo State University of Medical Sciences graduate Abigail Omotunde voiced skepticism as the post-NYSC reality became apparent.

“The passing-out, end of service, and thoughts about what next had preoccupied my mind in the last two months,” she stated. In addition to being a fashion designer, I am a skilled hair stylist and a hospital equipment marketer.

“Over the following two weeks, I will make a decision. I used to own a small store while I was a student, and I now work privately on campus, serving both my coworkers and other local clients. “I need the seed money to keep up the business so I can make ends meet,” she stated.

The number of graduates is rising.

The number of qualified graduates mobilized for the country has fluctuated over time due to a number of factors, including government admission policies, backlogs from strikes or academic disruptions, university and polytechnic graduation rates, the efficiency and effectiveness of school administrators, and the school calendar.

The NYSC program regularly recruited between 350,000 and 400,000 corps members in its three yearly batches of A, B, and C. As a result, managers of the only post-Civil War organization still in operation had to make adjustments to deal with the growing number of graduates trained locally and others from the Diaspora on employment generation.

The Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) program was introduced in 2012 to supplement the plan as a result of the concerns.

In addition to the yearly automatic employment provided to exceptional corps members by governments and employers of labor, the SAED has supplemented the various efforts of the federal and state governments in facilitating in-camp and post-camp skills acquisition training for corps members, according to a scheme official who wished to remain anonymous.

Speaking about corporate partnerships in creating jobs for the army of graduates mobilized for the program each year, the official stated that the NYSC/corporate partnership model continues to be a crucial component of Nigeria’s strategy for youth empowerment and job creation, particularly for post-service employment and entrepreneurship.

He revealed that the SAED/corporate partnerships strategy had trained thousands of corps members and provided start-up capital each year.

Training in Standardized Entrepreneurship

The Director General (DG) of the Scheme, Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, revealed plans to restructure the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) training for Corps Members by standardizing the curriculum for greater impact during the week of the 2025 second SAED stakeholders’ summit in Abuja.

Since 2012, the SAED program has taught over 3.18 million Corps members in entrepreneurship and workplace preparedness, with over 30,000 enterprises officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). He praised the program as a cornerstone of youth empowerment in Nigeria.

Through programs like Outsource to Nigeria, NYSC jobs.ng, and the SAED SME toolkit, the DG also disclosed that Corps members were being integrated into the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program as well as international remote work opportunities.

The founder of Ayodeji Megbope Inspires Mentoring Academy, Mrs. Ayodeji Megbope, advised discharged corps members not to be influenced by the nation’s much-discussed economic challenges in an interview, stating that astute minds can achieve breakthroughs.

“Your possibilities are limitless if a woman who started at 40 with N1000, with kids made fun of for stew-smelling uniforms, standing at a school gate hawking moin-moin, can rise to own a restaurant and now a Wellness Center,” the woman stated.

Mrs. Megbope urged all members of the dismissed corps to overcome their anxiety of the future, develop their abilities, become more competent, and set themselves up for long-term success.