The safety of Nigeria’s mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) programme has come under renewed scrutiny following findings by BusinessDay that at least 70 corps members have been abducted across the country in the past five years, despite safety advisories issued by the scheme.
Media reports have documented 13 kidnapping incidents involving corps members between 2022 and October 2026, highlighting the security risks faced by young graduates travelling to orientation camps and places of primary assignment.
The latest incident occurred on October 1, when gunmen reportedly seized 20 prospective corps members travelling in two commercial buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in Imo State. The victims, who were heading to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states, spent seven days in captivity before regaining their freedom.
Other reported abductions have occurred in states including Kogi, Zamfara, Anambra, Benue, Delta, Enugu, Ondo and Plateau. In several cases, corps members were intercepted on highways while travelling to orientation camps or returning to their places of primary assignment, raising concerns about the safety of interstate journeys during the service year.
The recurring incidents have prompted calls for a review of the programme. African Action Congress presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has called for its immediate suspension and eventual abolition, proposing a voluntary national job programme as an alternative. Former youth minister Bolaji Abdullahi, meanwhile, has advocated a one-year suspension to give the government time to restructure the scheme and strengthen security arrangements.
National President of the Parents-Teacher Association of Nigeria, Haruna Danjuma, has also urged the government to scrap or overhaul the programme if it cannot guarantee corps members’ safety. Education experts have called for security assessments before deployment, escorted transportation to orientation camps, vehicle tracking and stronger emergency response arrangements.
Although the NYSC has issued travel guidelines advising corps members against night journeys and other potentially risky travel practices, the continued abductions have raised questions about the adequacy of existing safeguards. The challenge for the government is to protect participants while preserving the scheme’s founding objective of promoting national unity.
