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Inadequate Infrastructure and Poor Welfare Standards
The NYSC was created to encourage national unity and civic responsibility. But after fifty years, the program’s camps, where Nigerian graduates first begin their national service, face problems like poor infrastructure, environmental issues, and public health concerns. These camps are meant for orientation, training, and motivation but now show wider government problems. Their current state raises concerns about the well-being and safety of service members, posing risks that do not meet either national or international health standards.
Across Nigeria’s thirty-six states, NYSC orientation camps vary in geography, but their shortcomings are tragically uniform. The infrastructure is often obsolete: crumbling hostels with leaky roofs, broken sewage systems, unsafe boreholes, and overcrowded sleeping areas. According to Emorinken et al. (2022) found that the most frequent illnesses among corps members in NYSC camps were preventable conditions such as upper respiratory tract infections, malaria, and gastrointestinal disorders. These ailments were associated with inadequate hygiene and deteriorating camp facilities.
Water, a basic human necessity, is a recurring hazard. In Katsina State, Samaila et al. (2022) detected dangerous levels of heavy metals; lead and mercury in water samples from the NYSC camp boreholes, levels far exceeding WHO thresholds. In Borno, Ifeanyichukwu et al. (2022) found that 37% of water sources accessed by camp-dwelling youths tested positive for E. coli and other pathogens. It is no surprise that Jaber et al. (2023) and Mike-Ogburia et al. (2025) link such unsafe water conditions directly to recurring outbreaks of cholera, a disease that should long have been eradicated in structured communal institutions like NYSC.
Sanitation is another front where the NYSC consistently fails. Mohammad and Abdulhamid (2021) document that in Abuja-based camps, up to 60% of toilet facilities lacked running water, and waste management was inconsistent or nonexistent. In a climate of high heat and humidity, such failures quickly escalate into breeding grounds for infectious diseases. The effects of these infrastructural lapses are magnified in the light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Amoo (2022) notes that camp dwellers’ attitudes towards vaccination were not shaped by anti-science beliefs but by mistrust in public health enforcement, stemming from the visibly unhygienic and overcrowded conditions in camps that contradicted the messages of national health agencies.
Orientation camps are not simply unhygienic, they are psychologically destabilizing. Amoko et al. (2021) found that 50% of corps members in Kebbi State reported moderate to severe anxiety symptoms linked to stressful living conditions, lack of personal space, and uncertainty about food and healthcare. Similarly, Nwajei et al. (2021) showed that 57% of corps members screened for depression in southern camps attributed their mental health challenges to the combination of dislocation, poor camp welfare, and the feeling of being neglected by a system that demanded patriotism but provided no comfort.
The overlap between NYSC camps and Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps is also instructive, and disturbing. Joshua et al. (2021) documented that the Girei NYSC camp in Adamawa, used temporarily to house IDPs, suffered similar challenges: inadequate WASH facilities, poor ventilation, low medical supply. In both cases, the government’s temporary response became permanent neglect. Fame et al. (2023) and Nzelibe et al. (2024) further argue that the infrastructural deficits in these facilities create cycles of vulnerability, especially among young people, with long-term health and developmental costs.
Camp nutrition is not exempt from scrutiny. Ekezie et al. (2020) reported that in several IDP-style camps across the North-East, diets consisted mostly of carbohydrate-heavy, protein-deficient meals, a pattern also observed in NYSC camps. Despite government budgets that allocate millions for feeding, corps members often depend on makeshift canteens with inconsistent food quality, no regulatory oversight, and exploitative pricing.
Even when corps members graduate from the orientation phase and proceed to their primary places of assignment, the welfare situation hardly improves. Umar et al. (2022) found that post-camp training facilities promised under the SAED scheme were either non-functional or nonexistent in 64% of the surveyed local governments. Okafor and Owolade (2023) argue that NYSC’s supposed involvement in community development projects is often more symbolic than practical, due to a lack of financial and infrastructural backing. The result is a disengaged cohort of youth who begin their service with enthusiasm but end it with frustration and a deepened mistrust of public institutions.
Read also: Beyond NYSC: Why Nigeria Must End Youth Service—Part 8
The exclusion of certain categories of graduates from NYSC further complicates the welfare narrative. Ottuh (2021) criticized the exclusion of theological and distance-learning graduates, noting that such exclusion often hides the fact that camps and local governments lack the infrastructure to absorb more corps members. What is framed as policy is often a logistical admission of failure.
In a country where public health is fragile and infrastructure is uneven, the NYSC camps could have served as models of intergovernmental collaboration, modern infrastructure, and youth-centered investment. Instead, they have become zones of neglect, where government rhetoric about youth development is betrayed by the very walls meant to house and train Nigeria’s future leaders.
This isn’t merely a policy lapse—it is a moral failure. Young Nigerians, many of whom endured years of academic struggle and unemployment, are ushered into environments that strip them of dignity, expose them to illness, and force them to acclimatize to dysfunction. If the government cannot provide clean water, safe toilets, adequate food, and basic health care within a controlled facility for less than a year of service, how can it inspire hope for a greater national renewal?
The answer lies in reimagining NYSC camps not as temporary militarized training zones, but as youth innovation and wellness centers—equipped with functioning clinics, sustainable housing, clean energy, and digital infrastructure. Until then, the current state of NYSC infrastructure is not just inadequate. It is indefensible.
References
Adamu, S., Ibrahim, M. and Yusuf, A., 2024. Toxicological evaluation of drinking water in IDP camp, Abuja. Sahel Journal of Life Sciences FUDMA.
Amoko, A., Ibrahim, M. and Yusuf, A., 2021. Anxiety symptoms among NYSC corps members in Kebbi State. Research Journal of Health Sciences.
Amoo, S.O., 2022. Attitude towards COVID-19 vaccines among NYSC camp dwellers. GET Journal of Biosecurity and One Health.
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Ifeanyichukwu, N.E., Ogbuagu, O., Adedayo, T. and Onyekachi, M., 2022. Quality assessment of water sources in Borno IDP camps. Journal of Energy Research and Reviews.
Jaber, T., Musa, R. and Ayinde, L., 2023. WASH factors and cholera recurrence in Nigerian camps. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development.
Joshua, S., Onukwube, H., Okon, E. and Bello, M., 2021. Insurgency and humanitarian conditions in IDP camps in Nigeria: A case of NYSC camp in Girei, Adamawa. International Journal of Cyber Warfare and Terrorism, 11(1), pp.1–19.
Mike-Ogburia, M., Eze, I., Chimaobi, U. and Okocha, T., 2025. Cholera in Nigeria: Trends and public health response. Nigerian Medical Journal.
Mohammad, S.B. and Abdulhamid, R., 2021. Plight of IDPs in Abuja: Sanitation and health. Al-Mada Journal, 4(1), pp.110–125.
Nwajei, A., Okonkwo, C., Salami, R. and Balogun, A., 2021. Depression screening among recent graduates in NYSC camp. Nigerian Journal of Clinical Practice, 24, pp.1385–1390.
Nzelibe, T.N., Adamu, A. and Odenigbo, J., 2024. Infrastructure adequacy and livelihood conditions in IDP camps. International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science.
Odega, C.C. and Mofolorunsho, K.C., 2020. Prevalence of ailments in a youth camp in Southern Nigeria. Central African Journal of Public Health, 6(6), p.346.
Okafor, P. and Owolade, A., 2023. NYSC involvement in community development in Oyo. American Journal of Public Policy and Administration.
Ottuh, J.A., 2021. Exclusion of graduates from NYSC: Policy gaps. Societies Journal, 1(2).
Samaila, A., Yusuf, B., Ali, H. and Garba, A., 2022. Background concentration of heavy metals at NYSC camp in Katsina. FUDMA Journal of Sciences.
Umar, H., Okafor, I. and Nweke, O., 2022. Challenges in NYSC post-camp skill training. European Journal of Human Resource Management Studies.
