President Bola Tinubu’s Government has announced plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) khaki uniform with locally made Adire fabric as part of reforms designed to improve the scheme.
Minister of Youth Development Ayodele Olawande revealed the plan on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s “The Morning Brief”.
He said the decision is aimed at supporting Nigerian textile producers and ensuring government spending benefits local businesses.
“It’s Adire. So, Adire is being produced in Nigeria. We have them in Ogun, we have them in Kwara, we have textile industry. Let’s put our money back into the country,” he said.
Olawande also disclosed that corps members will, under the new system, be posted to places that match their academic qualifications.
According to him, graduates who studied education will be assigned to schools, while others will be deployed to sectors related to their fields of study.
“After you are leaving the camp, you are not just posted to a school just because NYSC wants you to be in school but because of the process you followed when in camp. So, that is going to give a framework of where you are going to be posted to,” he said.
The minister added that the government is reviewing the deployment process to improve security.
He said many corps members may be posted to states or regions where they studied or are already familiar with the environment, especially in areas facing security concerns.
“If you have interest that you want to go to the North-East why not, but if you don’t have interest, instead of redeploying you, paying people for camp, doing all those funny things, we said no, let us look at it and say who are those in that area, that can reside in those geographical areas and still give us the kind of number we are looking for since we are saying NYSC should be more impactful. So, that is what we are talking about,” he said.
Olawande also dismissed reports claiming that the military would no longer be involved in the NYSC, describing the reports as false.
He clarified that while the scheme’s day-to-day operations will be led by a civilian, the military will continue to provide security support for corps members across the country.
The proposed changes come after the Federal Executive Council approved a major overhaul of the NYSC on Monday.
As part of the reforms, the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development have been directed to amend the NYSC Act and other relevant regulations to reflect the new policies.
The reforms represent the first major review of the NYSC since the programme was established in 1973.
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