The Federal Government has announced plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps’ traditional khaki uniform with locally made Adire fabric as part of reforms designed to reposition the scheme.
The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, revealed this on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, noting that the initiative aims to encourage local production and ensure government expenditure benefits the Nigerian economy.
“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 further explained that, under the new arrangement, corps members would be posted in line with their academic disciplines. He noted that graduates with education qualifications, for example, would be assigned to schools rather than being deployed without regard to their professional training.
“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.
Addressing security concerns, the minister stated that the government is exploring the possibility of deploying prospective corps members to regions where they studied and are already familiar with the environment, especially in areas affected by security challenges.
He explained that the approach would help ease concerns among parents and prospective corps members while making the deployment process more efficient.
“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.
The minister also rejected claims that the military would be excluded from the NYSC, describing the reports as a misunderstanding.
The proposed changes come after the Federal Executive Council on Monday approved a broad reform of the NYSC, marking the first significant restructuring of the programme since it was created in 1973.
As part of the reforms, the Federal Executive Council instructed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to revise the NYSC Act and its regulations to reflect the new measures.
The updated framework stipulates that the scheme’s operational leadership will be overseen by a civilian, while the military will remain responsible for providing security support to corps members across the country.
