“Yoruba Graduates Should Boycott NYSC” — O’odua Group Tells FG to Scrap Scheme

By Ademola Adekusibe

Apapo Oodua Koya (AOKOYA) has called on the Federal Government to scrap the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme and urged Yoruba graduates to boycott the programme, citing growing concerns over the safety of young Nigerians deployed across the country.

In a statement issued on Monday, the O’odua group described the NYSC scheme as a “death trap” for thousands of young graduates in Yorubaland and other parts of Nigeria. The group argued that the security situation facing prospective and serving corps members has raised serious questions about the continued compulsory deployment of graduates away from their states and communities.

AOKOYA said the Federal Government could no longer continue to compel young graduates to travel long distances and serve in areas where their safety cannot be guaranteed. It therefore called on Yoruba graduates to boycott the scheme, while demanding that the government review or completely discontinue what it described as an outdated national service arrangement.

The group’s position comes amid renewed concerns over the safety of corps members and prospective corps members travelling to orientation camps. In May 2026, Afenifere similarly called for reforms to the NYSC system, including allowing participants to serve within their states of origin or residence, citing cases of kidnapping and attacks involving young Nigerians travelling to orientation camps.

The debate over the future of NYSC is not new. The scheme, established in 1973 following the Nigerian Civil War, was designed partly to promote national integration by exposing young graduates to communities and cultures outside their immediate environments. However, critics have increasingly questioned whether that original objective can still be achieved under present security conditions.

AOKOYA’s demand therefore places the group within a wider national argument over whether compulsory national service should continue in its current form. While some advocates of reform have proposed restricting postings to safer locations or allowing graduates to serve closer to home, others argue that abandoning interstate service could further weaken one of the programme’s original objectives of promoting national interaction and unity.

The latest call also comes days after other voices renewed demands for an overhaul or scrapping of the scheme following reported abductions of prospective corps members. On October 3, 2026, Omoyele Sowore again called for the NYSC to be suspended and ultimately scrapped, arguing that young Nigerians should not be compelled to travel through insecure areas to fulfil a compulsory national service requirement.

For AOKOYA, however, the immediate priority is the safety of Yoruba graduates. The group maintained that no national integration policy should require young Nigerians to place their lives at unnecessary risk and urged the Federal Government to take decisive action on the future of the NYSC programme.

The call is likely to reignite debate over the original purpose of national service, the responsibility of government to protect corps members and whether Nigeria’s present security realities require a fundamental rethink of how young graduates are deployed across the country.