The federal government has confirmed plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps’ (NYSC) khaki uniform with locally produced Adire cloth as part of ongoing reforms to reposition the program.
Ayodele Olawande, minister of youth development, revealed this on Thursday during an interview with Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, stating the move was aimed at boosting local manufacturing and ensuring that 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, and we have the textile industry. Let’s put our money back into the country,” he said.
Olawande also stated that under the new framework, corps members would be posted more based on their fields of study, such as graduates with education qualifications being deployed to schools rather than being posted without regard for their professional backgrounds.
“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 stated that the government is considering posting prospective corps members to regions where they have already studied and are familiar with the environment, especially in areas with security challenges.
This would reduce concerns among parents and prospective corps members while also making the deployment process more practical.
“If you have interest and you want to go to the Northeast, why not? But if you don’t have interest, instead of redeploying you, paying people for camp, and 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 disputed allegations that the military would be removed from the NYSC, calling such statements a misunderstanding.
The modifications came after the Federal Executive Council approved a complete overhaul of the NYSC on Monday, the first major reform since the scheme’s inception in 1973.
According to the agreed revisions, the Federal Executive Council directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to revise the NYSC Act and its rules to reflect the changes.
The new framework states that the scheme’s operational leadership will be led by a civilian, but the military will continue to provide security support to corps members nationwide.
