As part of a broader reform package aimed at strengthening the programme and revitalising Nigeria’s textile industry, the Federal Government has announced plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) iconic khaki uniform with locally produced Adire fabric.
Ayodele Olawande announced the plan during an interview on The Morning Brief on Channels Television on Thursday, saying the initiative would ensure government spending supports local manufacturers.
“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,” Olawande said.
The minister also announced that the government will post corps members primarily based on their academic qualifications. He explained that officials will determine each posting through a profiling process conducted during the orientation camp.
He said, “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.”
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.
Backstory…
This comes just few days after Federal Executive Council approved a major reform of the National Youth Service Corps, marking the first significant restructuring of the scheme in its 53-year history.
The development was disclosed by the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, after the council meeting held at the Presidential Villa on Monday.
According to the minister, the reform will involve a full review of the NYSC scheme, which was established in 1973 to promote national unity following the Nigerian civil war.
For over five decades, the scheme has played a major role in fostering unity by deploying graduates across different parts of the country.
Olawande noted that the changing needs of the country have made it necessary to review the objectives and structure of the programme.
