The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has called on state governments to increase the capacity of orientation camps to accommodate at least 5,000 corps members each, citing the growing number of graduates entering the scheme annually.
The Director-General of the scheme, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, said the current facilities could no longer cope with the rising enrolment, noting that annual mobilisation had increased from about 100,000 graduates to approximately 450,000.
The appeal was made during his interaction with corps members of the 2026 Batch C Stream II at the NYSC orientation camp in Iyana Ipaja, Lagos, TVC News reported.
Lagos State NYSC Coordinator, Christiana Salmwang, disclosed that 11,155 corps members were deployed to the state for the service year, but the Iyana Ipaja facility could accommodate only 4,380. Consequently, some were sent to Ogun, Oyo, Edo, Kwara and Delta states for their orientation exercise before returning to Lagos for their primary assignments.
Nafiu identified the expansion of tertiary institutions and the increasing number of graduates, including those from foreign universities, as major factors behind the pressure on existing facilities. He disclosed that Lagos was constructing a permanent orientation camp with a capacity for 10,000 corps members, while Adamawa, Gombe and Borno were also making progress on new camp projects. Renovation works are equally ongoing in Sokoto, Kwara, Enugu, Osun and other states.
The NYSC chief also urged corps members to embrace the scheme’s Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme, build relationships across cultural and religious divides, and observe security precautions by informing colleagues and Corps Liaison Officers of their movements.
