Fifty-three years after its establishment, the Federal Government is set for the first and major review of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) mandatory one-year national service for Nigerian graduates.
The reforms are aimed at repositioning the scheme to better achieve its core mandate of promoting national unity, with additional objectives of skills acquisition and development, job creation, and empowerment for Nigerian youth.
Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this to State House correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council meeting held on Monday with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu presiding.
He revealed that key components of the reforms will include the digitalisation of NYSC operations, enhanced security and welfare for corps members, improved orientation camp facilities through stronger partnerships with state governments, redesigning the passing-out parade into a formal graduation ceremony, and introducing professional identity certification for corps members.
The NYSC Act, he disclosed, will be amended to align the scheme with contemporary national development priorities.
He said: “The Federal Government is determined, through the reforms, to transform the NYSC into a more impactful institution for youth development and nation-building.”
Shedding more light on the proposed reforms approved by FEC, the Special Adviser to the President on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, told newsmen that the scheme will now be civilian-led, unlike the present arrangement in which the Director-General of the NYSC is a serving senior military officer.
She said: “We recognise that NYSC is spread across the whole country, and security is the core aspect of ensuring the safety of our corps members. So, the safety aspect of our corps members still remains with the military, but the operational leadership of the NYSC will be civilian-led, while security will continue to be anchored and implemented by the Nigerian military. We’re not increasing the length of the NYSC itself, it still remains within the period. What we are looking at is within the core stream.”
While she maintained that the mandatory national service will still retain the one-year duration, Hadiza Usman further disclosed that graduates enrolled in specialised streams, such as the proposed Digital Corps, may spend additional time in training before deployment to their primary places of assignment to earn professional certifications that enhance employability and self-employment opportunities.
According to her, the reforms are designed to consolidate youth development programmes under the NYSC for better coordination, monitoring, and accountability.
Responding to a question on brain drain, the former Managing Director of the Nigerian Ports Authority said the vision of the reforms “is on producing more graduates, particularly in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields, and equipping them with relevant skills so they can contribute to national development whether they remain in Nigeria or eventually return with global experience.”
She disclosed that to give legal backing to the reforms, the Federal Executive Council had directed the Attorney-General of the Federation, in collaboration with the Ministry of Youth Development, to amend the NYSC Act and its regulations to enable the immediate implementation of the approved reforms.
A bill on the amendment will be sent to the National Assembly for legislative approval.
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