President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has declared that the sweeping reform being carried out in the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, is to equip young Nigerians well with practical skills, improve employability and position them strategically for national development.
The president made the declaration on his official X handle on Wednesday, describing it as a very significant step taken on NYSC, since it was formed in 1973.
His words: “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.”
“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 actualisation of that promise.”
He stated further: “Our young people are nearly 70 per cent 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 mobilisation scheme into a national development platform for skills, employability, productivity and enterprise.”
He said with the new development, the NYSC orientation programme would be for six weeks.
According to him, it will begin with civic responsibility, leadership, values and personal development.
It would later move on to career readiness, entrepreneurship, digital and financial literacy, and specialised training tailored towards corps members’ academic backgrounds and career paths.
He stated that the specialised streams would cover agriculture, education, health, technology, law, public service, infrastructure, the green economy, enterprise, the creative industry and para-military and security services.
He added: “Deployment to security-challenged states will be guided by risk assessment. It will prioritise indigenes, residents, graduates of institutions in those states and those from neighbouring states within the same geopolitical zones.”
He stated that “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.”
According to him, the scheme would now be headed by a civilian Director-General.
He would be supported by three Executive Directors, including one from the military or paramilitary services responsible for security.
While explaining that orientation camps would be assessed under a national grading and certification framework, the president stated that the traditional Passing-Out Parade would be replaced with a graduation ceremony to reflect the expanded scope of the scheme.
He said he had directed the Federal Ministry of Youth Development and the Federal Ministry of Justice to begin the process of amending the NYSC Act and other relevant regulations to give legal backing to the new development.
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