The Federal Government has confirmed plans to replace the iconic khaki uniform worn by National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members with locally produced Adire fabric as part of sweeping reforms aimed at modernising the 52-year-old scheme.
Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, announced the development on Thursday during an appearance on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, saying the initiative is designed to boost local industries and ensure government spending directly 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,” the minister said.
Beyond the proposed uniform change, Olawande disclosed that the government is introducing a new deployment system that will see corps members posted in line with their academic qualifications and professional training.
According to him, graduates of education-related courses, for example, will be deployed to schools based on their expertise rather than being posted arbitrarily.
“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 explained.
The minister also revealed plans to review the posting of corps members in response to prevailing security concerns, noting that many participants could be deployed to states or regions where they studied or are already familiar with the environment.
He said the arrangement would reduce unnecessary redeployments, address parents’ security concerns and make the scheme 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,” Olawande said.
He also dismissed reports suggesting that the military would be removed from the NYSC structure, insisting that such claims were inaccurate.
According to the minister, while the operational leadership of the scheme will be headed by a civilian under the proposed reforms, the military will continue to provide security support for corps members across the country.
The reforms follow the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) earlier this week of a comprehensive overhaul of the NYSC—the first major review of the scheme since its establishment in 1973.
As part of the changes, the FEC directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to amend the NYSC Act and other relevant regulations to give legal backing to the new framework.
