By Joy Odor Reportcircle News
Nigeria’s National Youth Service Corps is pushing beyond khaki uniforms and community service into a structured enterprise and it wants its managers to start thinking like business executives, not administrators.
At the opening of the 2026 Farm and Ventures Managers’ Workshop in Abuja, the Director-General of the National Youth Service Corps, Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, issued a blunt directive: modernise operations or risk turning empowerment projects into liabilities.
Represented by the Director of Corps Mobilisation, Rachel Idaewor, the DG told managers the era of government-run ventures surviving on routine bureaucracy is over.
The scheme’s farms and business units originally designed to empower corps members and host communities are now being repositioned as economic assets capable of generating revenue and skills simultaneously.
“The NYSC is building businesses that will drive economic growth and empowerment,” Nafiu said, stressing that commitment and professional discipline must replace complacency.
Officials said the shift reflects growing pressure on public institutions to produce measurable economic value amid tight national finances.
In unusually strong language for a training workshop, the DG cautioned managers against mismanagement and internal sabotage, warning that inefficiency could erase the scheme’s economic potential.
The workshop, themed Promoting Viable Partnerships For Profitable NYSC Ventures, is intended to retrain managers in modern enterprise practices partnerships, productivity metrics and sustainability rather than traditional public-sector operations.
According to Acting Director of Ventures Management Abe Dankaro, the programme is already moving toward commercial viability.
Recent projects include:
solar-powered borehole installation
a modern fish farm at the Kwali facility in the FCT
beef-fattening operations at the Keffi orientation camp
expanded partnerships with private organisations
Management said these initiatives have boosted productivity and expanded market reach, signalling a gradual transition from welfare scheme to structured agro-enterprise network.
Behind the reforms lies a broader policy idea: turning a nationwide youth programme into a decentralised production system that can train, employ and supply local markets at the same time.
If executed successfully, the NYSC’s hundreds of camps and farms could function as a nationwide incubation network for agriculture and small-scale manufacturing skills.
The message to managers was clear the programme is no longer just about training participants; it must now generate value.
With government revenues under strain and youth unemployment still high, the NYSC appears to be repositioning itself from a service year institution into a productivity platform one expected to produce both skilled graduates and economic output.
The workshop closes with a simple expectation: less paperwork, more profit.
