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African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate Omoyele Sowore has called for the immediate suspension and eventual scrapping of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme after the abduction of prospective corps members in Imo State.
Sowore made the call in a post on X(formerly Twitter) on Saturday, arguing that the incident showed the risks faced by young Nigerians who are required to travel across the country for compulsory national service.
Abduction Of Youth Corps Members: Time To Suspend And Then Scrap the @officialnyscng Scheme Is Now
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It has been my consistent position since 2019, during my first run for the presidency, that the National Youth Service Corps (@officialnyscng ) has outlived its usefulness in its… pic.twitter.com/Ku0NKmaNzk
— Omoyele Sowore (@sowore) October 3, 2026
The prospective corps members were among passengers abducted on Thursday when gunmen attacked two buses along the Owerri-Onitsha Road in the Umunoha area of Imo State.
The victims were travelling from Ibadan, Oyo State, to orientation camps in Abia and Akwa Ibom states.
The Imo State Police Command later said security agencies had rescued some of the abducted persons, while efforts continued to locate those still missing.
Reacting to the incident, Sowore said the NYSC had outlived its usefulness in its current form, a position he said he had maintained since his first presidential bid in 2019.
He argued that the government could not compel young Nigerians to travel to distant locations for national service without being able to guarantee their safety.
Sowore therefore called for the immediate suspension of the scheme and its eventual scrapping, while proposing that corps members should, in the interim, be allowed to serve within their states of origin.
“You cannot force young Nigerians to ‘serve their fatherland’ when the same country cannot guarantee their safety while they travel to their places of service.
“The NYSC should be suspended immediately and ultimately scrapped. In the meantime, all corps members should be given the option to serve within their states of origin,” he said.
He maintained that graduates should not be forced to travel long distances to unfamiliar parts of the country to fulfil a compulsory national service requirement, particularly in the face of widespread insecurity.
Under what he described as a “Sowore 2027 presidency”, he proposed replacing the NYSC with a two-year voluntary National Job Corps.
According to him, the proposed programme would focus on employment and skills development, while deploying participants to areas including public works, technology, agriculture, healthcare and education.
Sowore said young Nigerians needed jobs, opportunities, skills and security rather than compulsory deployment to areas where their safety could be at risk.
“Young Nigerians need jobs, opportunities, skills and security, not compulsory deployment into danger,” he said.
His comments came as security agencies increased efforts to rescue the abducted prospective corps members and other passengers.
The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, had deployed the Deputy Inspector-General of Police in charge of Operations, Shehu Nadada, to Imo State to coordinate the search-and-rescue operation. Two commissioners of police were also deployed to support the operation.
According to reports, the abductors had demanded N50m for each of 19 prospective corps members, putting the total ransom demand at N950m after the victims were taken into the bush.
The abduction has renewed concerns about the safety of corps members and prospective corps members who travel between states as part of the compulsory national service scheme.
