The Federal Government has confirmed plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps’ traditional khaki uniform with locally produced Adire fabric as part of ongoing reforms aimed at repositioning the scheme.
The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief, saying the move was intended to promote local manufacturing and ensure government spending supports 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,” he said.
Olawande also said corps members would increasingly be posted according to their fields of study under the new framework, explaining that graduates with education qualifications, for instance, would be deployed to schools rather than being posted without consideration 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.
On security, the minister said the government was considering posting prospective corps members to regions where they studied and were already familiar with the environment, particularly in areas facing security challenges.
According to him, the arrangement would reduce concerns among parents and prospective corps members while making the deployment process more practical.
“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,” he said.
The minister also dismissed reports suggesting the military would be removed from the NYSC, describing such claims as a misconception.
The reforms followed the approval by the Federal Executive Council on Monday of a comprehensive overhaul of the NYSC, the first major reform of the scheme since its establishment in 1973.
Under the approved reforms, the Federal Executive Council directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to amend the NYSC Act and its regulations to accommodate the changes.
The new framework provides that the scheme’s operational leadership will be headed by a civilian, while the military will continue to provide security support for corps members nationwide.