The Federal Executive Council has approved a comprehensive reform of the National Youth Service Corps, marking the first major review of the 53-year-old institution. As part of the changes, the NYSC will now be headed by a civilian in its operational leadership, while the military will continue to handle security for corps members nationwide. The government also directed the Attorney-General and the Ministry of Youth to amend the NYSC Act and its regulations to enable immediate implementation of the new framework.

The reform is intended to reposition the NYSC as a skill-oriented, productivity-driven institution that directly supports the administration’s goal of building a $1 trillion economy. Speaking on the reforms, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, said there was a need to “intervene to build the present ambition of a $1 trillion economy by repositioning the NYSC as a civilian-led, skill-oriented, productivity-driven, and youth-empowering national institution.” She added: “These, we need to strengthen the human capital development to enhance the workforce that is needed for us to promote and align with our national development.”

Bala-Usman explained that the government had segmented the NYSC across 11 different core streams, recognising the need to align with graduates’ skills and national priorities. “We’ve looked to see what are the areas that exist for Nigerian youth that Nigerian youth are interested in,” she said. Under the new structure, the orientation camp period will be reorganised: the first two weeks will focus on civic responsibility and national values, the next two weeks on career mapping and business skills, and the final two weeks on stream-specific training.

The 11 core streams include the agric corps, medical corps, education corps, tech and digital corps, legal corps, public service corps, infrastructure corps, green corps, enterprise corps, creative economy corps, and paramilitary and security corps. Each corps member will be required to select one stream upon registration and will receive specialised training within the two-week period.