Emmanuel Obi
President Bola Tinubu has said the Federal Government’s sweeping reform of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) fulfils his promise to create meaningful opportunities for young Nigerians while preserving the scheme’s core mandate of promoting national unity.
“I promised to create meaningful opportunities for our young people. I said women and youth would feature prominently in our administration, and this reform is partly the actualisation of that promise. For 53 years, the NYSC has served the cause of national unity. That mission remains important and must be preserved,” the President said in a statement on Tuesday.
Tinubu’s remarks followed the Federal Executive Council’s approval of what he described as the most far-reaching reforms of the NYSC since its establishment in 1973.
He said the reforms would reposition the scheme from a mobilisation programme into a national development platform focused on skills acquisition, employability, entrepreneurship and productivity.
According to the President, the NYSC orientation programme will now run for six weeks, beginning with civic responsibility, leadership, values and personal development before progressing to career readiness, entrepreneurship, digital and financial literacy. Corps members will also receive specialised training tailored to their academic backgrounds and career paths.
The specialised training, he said, will cover agriculture, health, education, technology, law, public service, infrastructure, the green economy, enterprise, the creative economy, and para-military and security services.
“Every corps member must leave NYSC better prepared for work, enterprise and national service,” Tinubu said.
The President also announced measures to improve the safety of corps members, saying deployment to security-challenged states would be guided by risk assessments and prioritise indigenes, residents, graduates of institutions within those states and those from neighbouring states in the same geopolitical zone.
He added that the call-up process would become technology-driven, while primary assignments would be aligned with corps members’ academic qualifications, skills and career streams.
Tinubu further disclosed that the NYSC would now be headed by a civilian Director-General, supported by three Executive Directors, including a Security Services Executive Director drawn from the military or other paramilitary agencies.
He said orientation camps would be assessed under a national grading and certification framework, while state governments would be required to meet minimum operational standards.
The President also announced that the traditional Passing-Out Parade would be renamed a Graduation Ceremony, explaining that corps members would no longer merely complete national service but graduate as trained civic and professional contributors to national development.
Tinubu directed the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and the Federal Ministry of Justice to begin the process of amending the NYSC Act and other subsidiary regulations to give legal backing to the reforms.
He commended the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, his Special Adviser on Policy and Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, the Federal Ministry of Education and members of the reform committee for their contributions to the initiative.
