Anxiety has gripped thousands of prospective corps members and their families as the 2026 Batch A (Stream 1) orientation exercise of the National Youth Service Corps commenced nationwide on January 21, particularly in states affected by banditry, terrorism and kidnappings, including Zamfara, Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Plateau, Yobe and Borno, amid a recent surge in attacks, killings, mass abductions and bomb scares across northern Nigeria.
While the NYSC had announced that about 650,000 graduates would be mobilised across all streams in 2026, only about 40 per cent are expected to participate in the current exercise, with reports indicating that roughly 8,000 corps members are projected to undergo the 21-day orientation in high-risk states, even as several corps members recounted long and fearful journeys to camps, saying, “My main fear is insecurity, the fear of bandits and kidnappers,” and “All through my journey to the camp, I kept thinking our bus might be attacked by bandits or kidnappers.”
State governments and NYSC officials, however, insisted that adequate security measures had been put in place, with some camps relocated from vulnerable areas, as parents’ groups urged maximum protection for corps members, and officials noting heavy deployment of military, police and other security personnel around camps, though efforts to reach the NYSC Director of Information and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, for comments were unsuccessful as of the time of filing this report.