The Federal Government has announced plans to replace the traditional khaki uniform worn by members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with locally made Adire fabric as part of reforms aimed at overhauling the scheme.
Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed the development during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Thursday.
“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.
The minister explained that the decision is part of efforts to boost local production, support Nigeria’s textile industry, and ensure government spending benefits the nation’s economy.
Beyond the planned uniform change, Olawande revealed that corps members would now increasingly be deployed based on their academic qualifications and 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.
He also disclosed that the government is considering posting corps members to regions where they studied or are already familiar with, especially in areas facing security concerns.
“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.
Olawande further dismissed reports claiming the military would be removed from the NYSC structure, insisting that such claims were misleading.
The reforms followed the approval by the Federal Executive Council earlier this week for a comprehensive restructuring of the NYSC, the first major overhaul of the scheme since it was established in 1973.
Under the new arrangement, the operational leadership of the scheme will be headed by a civilian, while the military will continue to provide security support for corps members nationwide.
