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Economic Waste – Cost without Benefit
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) continues to consume billions of naira annually, yet its economic value remains elusive. What was once introduced with patriotic intent has become a fiscal black hole, absorbing public funds, delaying professional development, and yielding little measurable return on investment. In an era of national economic instability, ballooning debt, and youth unemployment exceeding 43% (NBS, 2022), the NYSC is no longer a policy relic deserving reverence but a drain requiring urgent reckoning.
As of 2023, the federal government’s NYSC-related spending crossed ₦120 billion—up from just ₦30 billion eight years prior (Budget Office of the Federation, 2023). This staggering figure covers allowances, camp logistics, transportation, feeding, uniforms, and administrative costs. It now rivals, and in some instances exceeds, the entire capital allocation for key ministries like science and technology or youth development. Yet there is no rigorous system in place to quantify the scheme’s actual contribution to national output or development indices.
Several studies have attempted to assess this imbalance. Raimi and Alao (2011), in a landmark cost-benefit evaluation, concluded that the NYSC’s economic justification has collapsed under the weight of its own inefficiencies. Human and financial inputs consistently exceed tangible outputs. Soluade (2014) supported this assertion with simulation models of NYSC’s internal resource allocation, revealing widespread mismanagement, excessive logistics expenditures, and untraceable leaks within its administrative hierarchy.
However, the financial waste is only one layer. The scheme’s misappropriation of human capital, the most valuable national resource, reveals a deeper economic tragedy. Each year, hundreds of thousands of university and polytechnic graduates are assigned roles that have little to no alignment with their training, capacity, or aspirations. Engineers are sent to teach basic mathematics. Accountants are deployed to assist with clerical duties in remote ministries. According to Fadairo (2011), over 56% of ex-corps members surveyed described their postings as misaligned with their academic qualifications. Even worse, 41% stated unequivocally that the service year was professionally meaningless.
Studies by Amaka and Nor (2014) and Ehigbor (2023) further confirm that corps members posted as ad-hoc teachers suffer from low morale, lack of preparation, and ineffective performance. These findings undermine the argument that NYSC serves as a bridge between education and employment. Instead, the system often results in career stagnation and psychological disillusionment, where one of the most formative years of a graduate’s life is reduced to bureaucratic endurance.
To mitigate these systemic failings, the NYSC launched the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) initiative in 2012. But a decade on, SAED’s promise remains largely unfulfilled. Deebom and Daerego (2020) found that less than 20% of corps members who enrolled in SAED programs in Rivers State completed any form of structured, practical training. Even fewer—under 6%—launched any post-service ventures. Adedayo et al. (2023) conducted a comparative analysis of apprenticeship-based interventions, revealing that youth outside the NYSC framework often achieved better entrepreneurial outcomes with fewer resources. This exposes the underwhelming impact of NYSC-linked entrepreneurial training and reflects SAED’s fragmented implementation and chronic underfunding.
Muogbo et al. (2021) extended the critique by demonstrating that SAED has done little to address core issues of restiveness, unemployment, or underemployment among Nigerian youths. Their study emphasized that the program is treated more as a ceremonial appendix to the main NYSC structure than a central pillar of youth empowerment. Without access to funding, mentorship, or post-service incubation, SAED becomes yet another layer of performance within a system bloated by intentions and starved of delivery.
Corps members face significant economic burdens such as transportation to distant postings, self-funded accommodation, and unofficial payments for favorable deployments. Avwokeni (2016) states that administrative opacity and corruption have normalized these issues, undermining the scheme’s integrity.
Read also: Beyond NYSC: Why Nigeria Must End Youth Service—Part 2
In some cases, corps members are not just underutilized; they are deployed as substitute labor in failing public systems. McQuoid-Mason (2003) explored how NYSC law graduates were used as ad-hoc public defenders in Nigeria’s legal aid system, not as a structured intervention, but as a desperate stopgap. Rather than building enduring institutions or professional pipelines, NYSC offers a rotating wheel of unpaid interns to cover systemic inefficiencies, particularly in sectors like education, law, and health.
Moreover, the legal framework undergirding the NYSC scheme has failed to evolve with the country’s economic realities. Oriakhogba and Fenemigho (2018) argue that the NYSC Act lacks provisions for measurable efficiency or economic performance. It does not define value-based deployment or allow for meaningful private-sector engagement, leaving the scheme structurally frozen in a model that no longer serves its purpose.
There is no clearer evidence of this than the repetitive, cyclical nature of deployment and reassignment, where the same mistakes are replicated each year. Corps members are neither empowered economically nor given the tools to navigate post-service life with competitive advantage. The result is a wasted year for individuals, and a misallocated budget for the nation.
In the face of these revelations, it is no longer enough to treat the NYSC as a sacred cow. The program must be re-evaluated with clarity and boldness. Nigeria cannot afford to hemorrhage billions of naira on a structure that produces negligible development returns while impoverishing its most educated citizens of time, talent, and economic momentum. Redirecting NYSC funds into targeted vocational hubs, innovation programs, and structured job pipelines would yield far greater dividends. It is time to stop romanticizing NYSC and start facing its harsh economic reality. The numbers speak for themselves, and they are damning.
References
Adedayo, O., Adeyeye, J., Egbetokun, A., Olomu, M., Oluwadare, J., Sanni, M. & Orisadare, M., 2023. Pooled longitudinal dataset on the assessment of an apprenticeship-based entrepreneurship intervention in Nigeria. Research Data Journal for the Humanities and Social Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1163/24523666-bja10031
Ahimie, B., Kareem, A.A. & Okojide, A.C., 2024. Nigerian Open and Distance Learning students and the Mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Scheme. Shodh Sari – An International Multidisciplinary Journal. https://doi.org/10.59231/sari7662
Amaka, J.I. & Nor, A., 2014. The problems and negative effects of the use of NYSC members as ad-hoc teaching staff. IOSR Journal of Research & Method in Education, 4(6), pp.1–5. https://doi.org/10.9790/7388-04610105
Avwokeni, A.J., 2016. Cultural resistance, output measures, and audit practice: Impact on non-implementation of program-based budgeting in Nigeria. International Journal of Public Administration, 39, pp.909–916. https://doi.org/10.1080/01900692.2015.1057850
Budget Office of the Federation, 2023. 2023 Budget Implementation Report – First Quarter. Abuja: Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning.
Deebom, M.T.B. & Daerego, I.T., 2020. The influence of NYSC entrepreneurship skill acquisition programmes on youth empowerment in Rivers State. International Journal of Humanities, Social Sciences and Education. https://doi.org/10.20431/2349-0381.0706016
Ehigbor, B.O., 2023. Assessment of practical teaching difficulties among NYSC members serving as ad-hoc teachers. International Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Science. https://doi.org/10.54922/ijehss.2023.0624
Fadairo, O., 2011. Perceived influence of the NYSC scheme on youth development among ex-corps members. Journal of Agricultural Faculty of Social Science. https://doi.org/10.4314/joafss.v8i2.71638
McQuoid-Mason, D., 2003. Legal aid in Nigeria: Using NYSC public defenders to expand services. Journal of African Law, 47(1), pp.107–116. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0221855303002001
Muogbo, U.S., Eze, S.U. & Obananya, C.G., 2021. Skill acquisition as tool for solving youth restiveness and unemployment in Nigeria: The role of NYSC. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Educational Research, 3(4), pp.161–174. https://doi.org/10.51594/IJMER.V3I4.224
Oriakhogba, D.O. & Fenemigho, A.I., 2018. Review of the National Youth Service Corps Act: An agenda for reform. Nigerian Bar Journal, 1, pp.1–18.
Raimi, L. & Alao, O., 2011. Evaluation of the economics (cost and benefits) of NYSC for sustainable development. Humanomics, 27(4), pp.270–281. https://doi.org/10.1108/08288661111181314
Soluade, O., 2014. Modeling and simulation of a resource allocation problem: A case study of NYSC. Communications of the IIMA, 14(1), Article 8. https://doi.org/10.58729/1941-6687.1181
National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), 2022. Labour Force Statistics: Unemployment and Underemployment Report Q4 2022. Abuja: NBS.
