The 21-day National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camp at Ede, Osun State, has come to an official close for Batch A, Stream 1 corps members. But as participants departed the camp on the day of their passing out parade, emotions ranged from exhaustion to outright frustration. Many have labelled the experience a stressful cocktail of poor feeding, ineffective training, and, most painfully, posting to underdeveloped rural schools where their expertise would be grossly underutilized.
During The Nigeria Education News visit to the camp on the final day, several corps members lamented that after years of rigorous study in complex disciplines like Chemical Engineering, Geology, Biochemistry, Mass Communication, Sociology, among many others and they were being assigned to community secondary schools lacking basic infrastructure, teaching aids, or qualified staff.
“I studied Chemical Engineering for five years at the University of Lagos,” said Gabriel, visibly upset as he collected his posting letter. “Now they’ve posted me to a rural school in Ifedayo Local Government. No lab, no electricity, no road. What am I supposed to teach there — chalk formulas?”
An equally frustrated Ifunanya, who graduated with a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Port Harcourt, said she felt insulted by her posting. “I was sent to a public secondary school in Boluwaduro. The school doesn’t even have a science lab. I feel like my education was for nothing. This country frustrates people too much.”
Sarah, a Mass Communication graduate from UNN, expressed similar dismay. “They dumped me in a village school in Obokun where they don’t even have a functioning English teacher. Why spend four years in journalism school just to end up struggling to control 80 students in a cramped classroom without a fan?”
Corps members are particularly angry that NYSC continues to assign graduates to such locations without any orientation on the living conditions or expectations. “They just handed us letters and said ‘Go,’” said Femi, a Geology graduate from FUTA. “No information about accommodation, no welcome guide, no transport. I don’t even know how to find this place they posted me to.”
This feeling of neglect compounded the already tough lifestyle during the three-week camp. “The food we were served was disgraceful,” said Aisha from Bayero University, Kano. “Watery beans, oily rice, tasteless stew. I wouldn’t serve that to a prisoner.” Ruth from Delta State added, “Most of us had to survive by spending extra money at the mammy market every day.”
The SAED (Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development) training, once touted as the pride of the NYSC camp, was also described as a complete failure by nearly everyone we interviewed. “How do you expect me to become a fashion designer by attending four sessions of two hours each with no sewing machine?” asked Halima, a Sociology graduate. “Even if I wanted to take it seriously, they didn’t empower us with a single tool or fund.” Several other corps members voiced similar frustration about SAED. According to Timothy from Rivers State University, “They told us we would become job creators after camp, but nothing practical happened. No tools, no funding, nothing. It’s like government officials designed SAED to tick a box and not really help us.”
Corps members also decried the military-style routine, saying it was physically and emotionally draining. “We wake up by 3AM just to fight for a bathroom slot,” said Benjamin, a senior prefect-turned-corper from a Lagos secondary school. “If you miss devotion or parade, you’ll be punished. It was more like boot camp than a national service orientation.”
To make matters worse, the bathrooms and toilets were in deplorable condition. “Sometimes, you had to fetch water from far away just to flush,” said Yusuf from the University of Jos. “Many people fell ill because of the hygiene situation.”
Despite these hardships, corps members acknowledged that the social week — which featured events like Mr. Macho, Miss NYSC, cultural displays, bonfire night, and carnival parade — brought temporary relief. “That’s when we bonded the most,” said Grace from University of Ibadan. “It felt like family until NYSC separated us again with our final postings.”
The final day, which was expected to be a moment of celebration, instead became one of heartbreak and anxiety. “After building friendships for three weeks, we’re all being scattered across 31 LGAs of Osun,” said Daniel from the University of Abuja. “Some of my closest friends were posted to places we can’t even pronounce. NYSC should consider human emotions too.”
Adding insult to injury, many corps members said NYSC did not provide buses to take them to their Local Government Areas or Places of Primary Assignment (PPAs). “It was NCCF and NACC that came with their buses to save us,” said Adaeze from UNIZIK. “It’s unfair that government leaves us stranded in a strange land without proper arrangements.” Osun State has 30 local government areas and an additional area office in Modakeke, making movement without support logistically difficult.
The absence of structured follow-up or guidance at the posting stage has left many feeling abandoned. “It’s not just about deployment; it’s about integration and safety,” said Kehinde, a graduate of Psychology from OAU. “NYSC dumped us in villages where we don’t know anyone, and with no transport, accommodation, or even food waiting.”
As these young Nigerians now prepare to begin their one-year mandatory national service, their voices reflect not just disappointment in the execution of the scheme, but a broader concern about whether the NYSC’s founding ideals of unity, capacity building, and national development are still alive — or merely slogans printed in handbooks.
Whether the Federal Government and NYSC authorities will listen and initiate serious reforms remains to be seen. But one thing is certain: the call for a more humane, practical, and purposeful NYSC system has never been louder.
