NYSC Registration and the Digital Burden on Nigerian Youth

By Abdulazeez Toheeb Olawale

The opening of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) registration for 2025 Batch C was expected to be a moment of relief and celebration for thousands of Nigerian graduates. After years of academic struggle, financial sacrifice, and perseverance through strikes, uncertainty, and stress, this phase should mark the beginning of a new chapter. Instead, it became a national lesson in frustration — a story of sleepless nights, repeated attempts, and a portal that simply refused to work.

Like many others, I approached the registration with excitement and anxiety. I barely slept the night before November 4th. By 5:00 a.m., I was already seated in a cybercafé, hoping to complete my registration early and avoid the rush. But what awaited me and countless others was not progress — it was disappointment, error messages, and endless refreshing of the NYSC portal.

The site was either too slow to respond, completely unresponsive, or threw system errors after minutes of waiting. Biometric captures failed repeatedly, payment confirmation emails were never sent, and logging into the dashboard became a game of chance. Many of us remained in the café from sunrise to sunset, only to go home exhausted, with nothing achieved — except maybe a headache.

The following day, we tried again. And the day after that. The result was the same.

As the registration deadline drew closer, anxiety turned to fear. Not fear of missing service, but fear of wasting yet another year waiting for something that should be straightforward. Sensing this tension, the NYSC extended the registration by 48 hours. Yet, the issues persisted. The portal still malfunctioned. The delay only prolonged our stress, instead of solving the root problem.

I am writing this after yet another morning seated in front of a computer screen since 5:00 a.m. The outcome is unchanged. Refresh. Retry. Restart. Wait. Repeat.

At some point, the frustration forces you to ask deeper questions:

Why must a national platform struggle every year to handle the same process?

How many more generations will endure this avoidable hardship?

Why should the first test of national service be mental and emotional punishment?

The failure of the NYSC portal is not just a technical glitch. It is a reflection of a deeper systemic problem: our public digital infrastructure is weak and unreliable. Despite the billions spent annually on digital transformation, technology deployment in public institutions remains inconsistent, poorly managed, and rarely aligned with global best practices.

We live in a world where social platforms like Facebook, TikTok, and X seamlessly handle billions of users daily. Financial apps process millions of transactions in real time. Private companies, even within Nigeria, run large-scale digital systems with efficiency. Yet, a platform designed to register a few hundred thousand graduates struggles every single year.

This is not a capacity problem. It is a priority problem.

When systems fail repeatedly without consequence, failure becomes normal. When people suffer in silence, frustration becomes routine. When government services are designed without empathy for the citizens they serve, dignity becomes optional.

The irony is painful:

We speak loudly about digital innovation.

We boast about becoming a digital economy.

We encourage youth to embrace technology.

But the very institutions responsible for national service cannot maintain a functioning registration portal.

NYSC is not just a program, it is an identity symbol for young Nigerians — a rite of passage. It should not begin with trauma.

For many of us, this period has triggered an uncomfortable realization: graduating from university does not end the struggle — it merely introduces a new chapter of it. The transition from student to citizen feels less like progress and more like another hurdle in a long obstacle course.

But this does not have to be our story.

The NYSC management, the Ministry of Youth Development, and the agencies responsible for digital infrastructure must urgently overhaul the system. This overhaul must go beyond temporary fixes. It requires:

Investment in stable, scalable digital platforms

Partnerships with private tech companies that already handle high-volume systems

Independent performance auditing of all government-managed digital platforms

A culture of accountability, not excuses

The youth of this country are resilient — but resilience should not be an excuse for negligence. We are ready to serve our nation. But the nation must also be ready to serve us with systems that function, respect us, and value our time.

We are not asking for luxury.

We are asking for competence.

We are asking for dignity.

We are asking for the Nigeria we were promised.

The NYSC registration saga is more than a technical issue — it is a wake-up call. If we cannot get something this basic right, how do we intend to build the future we speak of?

Young Nigerians deserve better — and we will keep demanding better, not just for ourselves, but for those who will come after us.