Nigeria's NYSC Director Calls for Entrepreneurship and Announces Major Reform Plans

Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, Director‑General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), visited the NYSC Secretariat in Lokoja, Kogi State, where he urged the 3,953 corps members in the state to pursue entrepreneurship, citing examples such as small‑scale food businesses. He pledged to improve welfare by increasing transportation support, enhancing feeding arrangements, and upgrading NYSC kits from next year, and he said he would discuss state allowance payments with the Kogi government.

The federal government has simultaneously unveiled a broad reform agenda for the NYSC. The proposed changes aim to embed entrepreneurship training, digital literacy, leadership development and civic responsibility into the scheme, align primary assignments with graduates’ fields of study, and strengthen security measures for corps members deployed to volatile areas. Funding reforms include establishing a NYSC Trust Fund to draw private‑sector resources, while administrative changes may place the scheme under civilian leadership. The reforms target the scheme’s growing challenges, including employer rejections, welfare concerns and security risks affecting the more than 400,000 annual participants.