400,000 Graduates Join Workforce as NYSC Releases Latest Batch

The 52-year-old National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) discharged the 2024 Batch C Stream II after completing their one-year mandatory service, making them the final of roughly 400,000 young graduates it mobilizes each year. As a result, the young graduates’ realities and doubts about what lies ahead for them have increased.

Recall that the countrywide passing out procession was held on Thursday, December 18, 2025, for the Batch C Stream II of 2024 session, who were released following a year of mandatory service.

Some of the hurdles that may impede post-NYSC career chances for some of the discharged corps members include the country’s severe economic conditions, sustainable seed capital, and the realities of academic training mismatch for a few accessible occupations.

It was demonstrated that some of the discharged corps members in the federation’s states are afraid about their employment prospects. Since the government’s N77,000 monthly allowance and corps employers’ pittance have been withheld since the end of the month, several voiced bitterly how they would proceed if the anticipated engagement is delayed.

Conversely, some of them expressed hope that they may use their lifetime careers as a source of income.

Eno Okonnah, a female corps member and University of Calabar English Language graduate, bemoaned the fact that the quantity of her colleagues assigned to the school as Place of Primary Assignment made it impossible for her to be kept at the private school where she served.

Ondo State University of Medical Sciences graduate Abigail Omotunde voiced doubt as the post-NYSC reality became apparent to her.

“The passing-out, end of service, and thoughts about what next had preoccupied my mind in the last two months,” she remarked. In addition to being a skilled hair stylist, I also promote medical equipment and design clothing.

“In the next two weeks, I will make a decision. During my time as a student, I owned a small store, and I currently operate a private practice on campus, catering to both my coworkers and local clients. “I need the seed money to keep running the business and make ends meet,” she stated.

A rise in the number of graduates

The number of eligible graduates mobilized for the country has fluctuated over time due to a number of factors, including government admission policies, backlogs from strikes or academic disruptions, university and polytechnic graduation rates, the efficiency and effectiveness of school administrators, and the school calendar.

The NYSC program regularly recruited between 350,000 and 400,000 corps members in its three yearly batches of A, B, and C. As a result, managers of the only post-Civil War organization still in existence had to make adjustments to deal with the growing number of graduates trained locally and others from the Diaspora on employment generation.

The Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) program was introduced in 2012 to supplement the plan as a result of these issues.

In addition to the yearly automatic employment provided to exceptional corps members by governments and employers of labor, the SAED has complemented the various efforts of both the federal and state governments in facilitating in-camp and post-camp skills acquisition training for corps members, according to a scheme official who wished to remain anonymous.

The official stated that the NYSC/corporate partnership model continues to be a crucial pillar of Nigeria’s job creation and youth empowerment strategy, particularly for post-service employment and entrepreneurship, while discussing corporate partnerships in employment generation for the army of graduates mobilized annually for the scheme.

He revealed that the SAED/corporate partnerships strategy has provided training and start-up financing to thousands of corps members each year.

Standardized Training for Entrepreneurs

The Director General (DG) of the Scheme, Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, revealed plans to modernize the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) training for Corps members by standardizing the curriculum for greater impact during the week of the 2025 second SAED stakeholders’ summit in Abuja.

With over 30,000 companies officially registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) and over 3.18 million Corps Members trained in entrepreneurship and workplace preparedness since 2012, he referred to the SAED program as a cornerstone of youth empowerment in Nigeria.

The DG further disclosed that Corps members were being integrated into the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) program and international remote work opportunities via programs like the SAED SME toolkit, Outsource to Nigeria, and NYSC jobs.ng.

The founder of Ayodeji Megbope Inspires Mentoring Academy, Mrs. Ayodeji Megbope, advised discharged corps members not to let the nation’s much-discussed economic problems deter them in an interview, stating that astute minds may achieve breakthroughs.

“Your possibilities are limitless if a woman who started at 40 with N1000, with kids made fun of for stew-smelling uniforms, standing at a school gate hawking moin-moin, can rise to own a restaurant and now a Wellness Center,” the speaker stated.

All discharged corps members were urged by Mrs. Megbope to overcome their anxiety of what lay ahead, develop their abilities, gain competence, and position themselves for long-term success.