President Bola Tinubu has defended his administration’s significant reforms of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), saying the revisions are aimed at training young Nigerians with practical skills, boosting employability, and positioning them as drivers of national development.
In a post on his official X account on Wednesday, Tinubu described the reforms adopted by the Federal Executive Council on Monday as the most significant since the NYSC was founded in 1973.
According to the president, the revamp carries out a promise he made at his inauguration to provide real possibilities for young people and assure their central position in his administration.
“On Monday, at the Federal Executive Council, our administration approved the most consequential reforms of the National Youth Service Corps Scheme since its establishment in 1973,” he said.
“On the day I was sworn in as your president, 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 actualization of that promise.”
Tinubu mentioned that while the NYSC had served the cause of national unity for more than five decades, the country’s current realities require a broader mandate.
“Our young people are nearly 70 percent of our population. They are not a burden to be managed… They are the engine of the one-trillion-dollar economy we are building and the hope of this nation.
“We are repositioning the NYSC from a mobilization scheme into a national development platform for skills, employability, productivity, and enterprise.”
Under the reforms, the NYSC orientation program will last six weeks, beginning with civic responsibility, leadership, values, and personal development and progressing to career readiness, entrepreneurship, digital and financial literacy, and specialized training tailored to corps members’ academic backgrounds and career goals.
Tinubu stated that the specialized streams will include agriculture, education, health, technology, law, public service, infrastructure, the green economy, enterprise, the creative industry, and paramilitary and security services.
He also announced additional steps to improve corps member safety, stating that deployment to security-challenged states would be risk-based and prioritize indigenes, residents, graduates of institutions in those areas, and neighbors within the same geopolitical zone.
“Deployment to security-challenged states will be guided by risk assessment. It will prioritize indigenes, residents, graduates of institutions in those states, and those from neighboring states within the same geopolitical zones,” he said.
“The call-up process will become technology-driven, and primary assignments will be better aligned with each corps member’s skills, academic background, and career stream.”
The president also announced that the NYSC would now be led by a civilian director general and assisted by three executive directors, one of whom would be a member of the military or paramilitary forces in charge of security.
He noted that orientation camps would be evaluated using a national grading and certification framework and that the traditional Passing-Out Parade would be replaced with a Graduation Ceremony to reflect the program’s enlarged scope.
Tinubu stated that he has asked the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and the Federal Ministry of Justice to begin modifying the NYSC Act and other necessary laws to provide legal underpinning for the reforms.
He also acknowledged the services of 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.
Addressing Nigerians youths, Tinubu said, “This nation believes in you. We are building a country worthy of your talent, your ambition and your future.”
