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The Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, has warned corps members against involvement in partisan politics during their service year.
General Nafiu gave the warning during his official visit to the NYSC Permanent Orientation Camp at Umunna, Bende Local Government Area of Abia State.
In cautioning the corps members, the NYSC Director-General told them that the NYSC scheme had separated national service from partisan politics.
He, however, informed them that they could register as Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) ad hoc personnel for forthcoming general elections, describing the opportunity as a legitimate avenue to contribute to the electoral process while earning income.
The NYSC Director-General further warned the corps members against becoming entangled in communal crises in their places of primary assignment, but instead to remain at peace with their host communities.
The Director-General equally cautioned corps members to shun flamboyant lifestyles and instead strive to acquire practical skills and build multiple sources of income as they transition from university life into the wider economy.
He told participants in the 2026 Batch B Stream II Orientation Course that corps members were passing through a critical transition period and should therefore moderate their expectations while preparing realistically for life after national service.
He advised them not to measure success by expensive lifestyles, stressing that the present economic environment requires young people to develop skills, financial discipline, and entrepreneurial capacity rather than depend solely on conventional employment.
Nafiu urged the corps members to take the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme seriously, regardless of their university disciplines, saying the initiative was designed to expose them to opportunities through which they could become self-employed, employers of labour and financially independent.
He described national service as an opportunity to build networks and broaden perspectives, urging the corps members to remember that one of the reasons they were brought together was to promote national integration through interaction, friendship, and shared experiences.
Nafiu disclosed that his visit was intended to enable him to assess firsthand the condition of the permanent orientation camp and the progress of the three-week orientation exercise.
While recalling the condition of the camp during his previous visit, Nafiu expressed appreciation for the improvements recorded.
Abia State Coordinator of the NYSC, Yunusa Tanimu, had earlier disclosed that 1,739 corps members, comprising 758 males and 981 females, had been registered, documented, and kitted for the ongoing orientation course.
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Tanimu told the visiting NYSC Director-General that the camp clinic was being supported by 12 corps medical doctors, 19 nurses, 13 pharmacists, and 21 other health personnel, alongside a doctor and a nurse from the Federal Medical Centre, Umuahia.
The state coordinator listed several initiatives undertaken since his assumption of duty, including the procurement of plastic chairs, the facelift of the camp entrance, the construction of a wheelchair ramp at the multipurpose hall, and the introduction of twice-weekly interactive lunches with key groups of corps members and camp personnel.
The State Coordinator attributed a number of major improvements to the support of the Abia State Government, including the renovation of corps members’ hostels and the multipurpose hall, the construction of internal roads, the installation of 46 solar-powered street lights, the provision of a 110 KVA generator, the construction of new office accommodation for the NYSC State Secretariat and the provision of 50 sets of office desks and chairs.
Other interventions, he said, included the augmentation of camp feeding and the approval of an enhanced allowance for corps members.
Tanimu, however, identified inadequate power supply from the national grid, the deteriorating condition of the course officials’ hostels, clinic, and kitchen, the lack of a functional ambulance, a shortage of double bunk beds and the growing inadequacy of the multipurpose hall as major challenges requiring further intervention.
Responding on behalf of the corps members, Chinenye Edeani, Corps Camp Director, expressed appreciation to the Director-General for his visit.
General Nafiu had earlier, on arrival in the state, paid a courtesy call on Governor Alex Otti, whom he eulogised for creating a peaceful and conducive environment for corps members serving in the state.
Nafiu told Otti that 8,890 corps members were currently serving across Abia State, comprising 5,083 females and 3,805 males, noting that the higher number of female corps members was a strong indication of the relative peace and security enjoyed in the state.
Receiving the delegation, Governor Otti directed the commencement of the second phase of renovations and infrastructural interventions at the NYSC Orientation Camp.
The governor noted that his administration had already commenced the first phase of renovations and building works at the camp and had now approved the second phase.
“I’m glad with the progress that we have made, though we are not there yet. So, work will start very soon. I already have approved it,” Gov. Otti stated.
The governor said he was happy to hear that NYSC in Abia had more than 340 healthcare professionals and stressed that healthcare remains a priority area for his administration.
