The Federal Government has approved an additional 50,000 mobilisation slots for the 2026 service year of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), a move aimed at reducing the backlog of Nigerian graduates awaiting deployment for the mandatory one-year national service programme.
The approval was disclosed by the Director-General of the NYSC, Olakunle Nafiu, during an event at the NYSC National Directorate Headquarters in Abuja. According to him, the decision forms part of the Federal Government’s broader effort to address the increasing number of graduates produced annually by tertiary institutions across the country.
Nafiu explained that the rising number of universities, polytechnics and colleges of education in Nigeria has significantly increased the population of graduates seeking mobilisation into the NYSC scheme each year. When the programme was first introduced in 1973, Nigeria had only a few higher institutions producing graduates. However, the country now has more than 400 corps-producing institutions, leading to a sharp rise in the number of eligible participants for national service.
He noted that Nigeria now produces hundreds of thousands of graduates every year, many of whom must wait for extended periods before being mobilised due to limited available slots in the scheme. The approval of an additional 50,000 mobilisation spaces is therefore expected to ease the pressure on the system and shorten the waiting time for prospective corps members.
The NYSC Director-General added that with the newly approved slots, the scheme is expected to mobilise over 418,000 corps members nationwide during the 2026 service year. The move is seen as part of ongoing reforms designed to improve the efficiency of the mobilisation process and ensure that qualified graduates are deployed more quickly.
He also explained that mobilisation into the scheme is handled through an automated system that regulates the deployment process. Prospective corps members who fail to report to orientation camps after being called up are usually returned to the mobilisation pool and may have to wait until existing candidates in the system are cleared before being mobilised again.
According to Nafiu, some of the delays experienced by graduates are not always caused by the NYSC itself but by institutions that fail to upload their Senate-approved lists of eligible graduates on time. Without this list, graduates cannot proceed with the online registration process on the NYSC portal.
The NYSC leadership also reaffirmed its commitment to the safety and welfare of corps members during their service year. Nafiu explained that the scheme carefully considers security conditions before deploying corps members to different parts of the country. In states facing security challenges, corps members are typically posted to state capitals and relatively secure urban areas to minimize potential risks.
Also speaking at the event, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, commended the NYSC management for efforts aimed at improving the operations of the scheme and strengthening support for young Nigerians participating in the national service programme.
