ABUJA, Nigeria – For some Nigerian graduates, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a bridge into employment; for others, it is a year spent preparing to leave the country. Between the search for stable jobs, the cost of living and concerns about insecurity, the service year can become a turning point in deciding whether to build a future in Nigeria or pursue opportunities abroad. In this report, Hope Ajayi examines the experiences of serving corps members, a graduate employed through NYSC and a Nigerian professional who relocated to the United Kingdom, exploring what their choices reveal about youth employment, migration and the future of national service.
When National Service Becomes a Waiting Room
At 24, Emovon Destiny is serving in Lagos. However, his eyes are already on Ireland, where he hopes to pursue further education and expand his career opportunities.
Although NYSC has provided an opportunity to gain work experience, it has not answered his biggest question: what happens after service? Competition for jobs and uncertainty about career progression have made him consider building his future outside Nigeria. “I see NYSC as both an opportunity to gain work experience and a temporary phase before pursuing broader opportunities abroad,” he said.
Destiny plans to relocate through a study route, relying on family support to cover tuition, visa and accommodation costs. However, securing the necessary funding remains a major hurdle. His situation highlights an important reality. Although many graduates consider relocating, not everyone can afford the cost of studying or working abroad.
Meanwhile, Destiny is exploring alternatives at home. These include customer support, sales, operations and communications. He is also considering digital skills, professional certifications, remote work, freelancing and entrepreneurship. For him, better employment opportunities, merit-based recruitment, clearer career progression and economic stability could make staying in Nigeria more attractive.
But Destiny is not the only corps member weighing these options. Others are exploring a different path.
Not Every Corps Member Wants to Leave
For Opeyemi Ajayi, 27, who is serving in Ogun State, national service presents an opportunity to build a future in Nigeria rather than prepare for life abroad.
Her focus is entrepreneurship. Through the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme, she has begun exploring opportunities beyond her primary assignment. “I see NYSC as an eye-opener to the opportunities life has to offer,” she said.
Ajayi believes practical training can help corps members identify business opportunities and prepare for life after service. However, she wants the programme extended to young people in rural communities, where access to training and business support may be limited. Her experience presents a different perspective on national service. Rather than viewing the programme as a waiting period before relocation, she sees it as a chance to develop skills and establish a livelihood at home.
Yet acquiring a skill is only the beginning. Turning an idea into a sustainable business requires capital, mentorship, access to markets and reliable infrastructure. Without these support systems, the opportunities offered through NYSC may not translate into lasting economic independence. For other corps members, however, the choice between staying and leaving remains unresolved.
Between Staying and Leaving
At 26, Prosper Ajayi, who is serving in Lagos, hopes to join Nigeria’s security forces. Yet, like many young graduates, he has also considered relocating abroad. His uncertainty stems partly from his experience in the labour market. According to him, some employers treat corps members primarily as trainees, limiting their responsibilities and earnings. “As a corps member, some employers see us as trainees, so we are given less responsibility and paid less,” he said.
Family support and personal savings would influence his ability to relocate. If he remains in Nigeria, he plans to learn a trade or establish a business. His experience reflects the uncertainty many graduates face after university. Even when they secure placements during national service, there is no guarantee that those opportunities will lead to permanent employment.
Consequently, some graduates turn to additional training and entrepreneurship. Others begin looking beyond Nigeria. For Prosper, the decision is not simply about wanting to leave. It involves weighing career ambitions, financial capacity and the opportunities available at home. However, one former corps member’s experience suggests that NYSC can sometimes provide the employment opportunity graduates are searching for.
When NYSC Opens the Door to Employment
Not every graduate completes national service still searching for a foothold in the labour market.
Alabi Olamide, 27, a telecommunications engineer and former corps member who served in Lagos, secured a job with his place of primary assignment after demonstrating his capabilities. “My current place of work was given to me through NYSC, with no need for interviews and the usual job search,” he said.
His experience shows how a primary assignment can become a direct route into employment when an organisation recognises a corps member’s skills and has the capacity to retain them.
However, Olamide acknowledged that not everyone enjoys the same outcome. Some former corps members he knows were not retained and had to begin searching for jobs after completing their service. Interestingly, securing employment has not ended his interest in opportunities abroad. He is considering pursuing a master’s degree overseas after gaining more professional experience. His plans underline an important distinction: considering international education does not necessarily mean a graduate has failed to find opportunities in Nigeria.
For Olamide, NYSC provided an entry into the labour market. However, he still sees further education abroad as a possible step in his career. But while some graduates are considering leaving despite finding employment, others have already made the move.
Why One Graduate Left Nigeria
For Olajide, a 28-year-old cybersecurity professional now living in the United Kingdom, the decision to leave Nigeria went beyond the search for better employment. He completed NYSC in 2020, began making serious relocation plans in 2021 and eventually moved to the UK in 2022 through a student visa route.
Olajide said concerns about governance, police brutality and insecurity influenced his decision. Although he recognised the difficulties in Nigeria’s job market, he did not consider NYSC the reason for relocating. “There seemed to be constant reports of kidnappings, killings, police brutality, and other security challenges,” he said.
Relocating also came at a considerable financial cost. Olajide estimated that the process required approximately ₦36 million, covering tuition, visa expenses, travel and other preparations. His parents provided financial support.
Exchange-rate fluctuations further complicated the process, placing additional pressure on his family’s finances. Before leaving, he had considered establishing a business in Nigeria. However, he found the processes and requirements tedious and discouraging.
Asked what might have made him reconsider, he identified personal safety as a major concern. “I believe that financial stability means very little if you cannot feel safe in your own country,” he said. He also expressed concern that personal connections sometimes carry more weight than merit in Nigeria’s employment system.
For young people considering relocation, Olajide advised assessing their financial capacity and the feasibility of their plans before committing to the process. His experience reveals that the decision to leave Nigeria can involve several pressures at once. Employment opportunities matter, but so do personal safety, confidence in public institutions and expectations about quality of life.
For some graduates, therefore, NYSC may not create the desire to relocate. It may simply coincide with a decision shaped by years of experience.
The Economics Behind the Japa Decision
The experiences of these graduates raise a broader question: what happens when young Nigerians struggle to see a clear path from education to financial security? The transition from university to employment can be difficult, particularly when available jobs do not match graduates’ qualifications, expectations or financial needs.
Where entry-level positions offer limited pay and uncertain career progression, some graduates begin exploring alternatives, including further education and employment abroad. Even securing a job does not automatically guarantee financial stability. Graduates must consider their earnings alongside the cost of living, career advancement and family responsibilities.
The financial demands of migration also determine who can pursue opportunities abroad. While Destiny’s plans depend partly on family support, Olajide estimated that relocating to the UK cost approximately ₦36 million. Such expenses can place international education and employment beyond the reach of graduates without substantial financial backing.
Entrepreneurship offers another possible route. However, acquiring a skill or developing a business idea does not guarantee success. Young entrepreneurs also need affordable finance, reliable infrastructure, mentorship, access to customers and a supportive business environment.
Without these conditions, entrepreneurship training may produce promising ideas without providing the resources needed to establish sustainable businesses. Migration also has wider implications for Nigeria. When skilled graduates leave, the country risks losing some of the people it has invested in educating and training.
However, Nigerians abroad can also contribute through remittances, professional networks, investment and the transfer of skills and knowledge. The overall impact depends on who leaves, the skills they take abroad and whether they maintain meaningful links with Nigeria.
Importantly, the experiences of these graduates do not establish that NYSC is becoming a nationwide migration pathway. Broader evidence, including surveys of corps members’ migration intentions, post-service employment outcomes and actual relocation figures, would be needed to establish such a trend. Nevertheless, their accounts offer insight into the pressures shaping the decisions of young Nigerians.
Can NYSC Give Graduates a Reason to Stay?
The service year occupies an important position between higher education and working life. It provides graduates with an opportunity to apply their knowledge, gain experience, build professional networks and explore possible careers.
However, its impact depends largely on the quality of placements and the opportunities available after service. Where organisations provide meaningful responsibilities and retain capable corps members, NYSC can offer a pathway into employment.
Conversely, placements with limited professional development or no prospects of permanent employment may leave graduates facing the same uncertainty they experienced before joining the scheme. The Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme also offers an alternative route through self-employment. However, practical training must be supported by access to finance, mentorship, markets and continued assistance if graduates are to turn their skills into viable businesses.
Stronger partnerships between NYSC, employers, educational institutions and business-support organisations could help align training with labour-market needs. The scheme could also improve transparency by tracking post-service employment outcomes and assessing the effectiveness of its entrepreneurship interventions.
Beyond NYSC, however, the wider challenges raised by the interviewees require urgent attention. Economic stability, fair recruitment, public safety and confidence in public institutions cannot be addressed by national service alone. Ultimately, making the transition from service to meaningful employment easier could give more graduates a credible reason to build their futures in Nigeria.
Beyond Japa: The Future Young Nigerians Want
For Destiny, NYSC is an opportunity to gain experience while preparing for a possible move abroad. Opeyemi sees it as a platform for developing entrepreneurial skills in Nigeria. Prosper remains uncertain about his future, while Olamide has secured employment but is considering international education. Olajide, meanwhile, has already relocated, citing insecurity and economic concerns.
Their experiences reveal that the journey after national service is far from straightforward. For some graduates, NYSC opens the door to employment. For others, it provides time to reconsider their careers, explore entrepreneurship or prepare for further education abroad. What connects their experiences is the search for a realistic path from education to a secure and fulfilling life.
The question, therefore, is not simply whether young Nigerians are using NYSC as a stepping stone to japa. It is whether the service year—and the economy beyond it—offers them enough opportunities to make staying a viable choice.
National service cannot guarantee employment, eliminate insecurity or determine where graduates should build their futures. However, it can become part of a stronger system that equips young people with relevant skills, connects them to employers and supports aspiring entrepreneurs. Ultimately, young Nigerians should be able to choose whether to stay or leave based on their ambitions, not because they feel that building a decent life at home is beyond reach. For many, the service year is not necessarily the reason they leave. It may simply be the point at which they decide what comes next.
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