50 years after, FG to overhaul NYSC into civilian-led productivity-driven skill corps

…Identifies 11 Core areas of concentration/ training 

The Federal Executive Council on Monday approved plans to reform the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) into a civilian-led institution focused on skill acquisition across 11 core sectors, including paramilitary, technology entrepreneurship, and medical services.

​Hadiza Bala-Usman, Special Adviser to the President on Policy Implementation, said the changes cover the entire scope and structure of the scheme. The announcement followed a council meeting chaired by President Bola Tinubu at the State House.

​Structural changes across 11 core streams

Under the new framework, the government aims to reposition the NYSC to align with the national target of building a $1 trillion economy.

​Regarding the new operational model, Hadiza Bala-Usman stated:

​”We’ve designated 11 core streams across NYSC. So, when you come in as a youth corps member, you would now pick which stream you want to participate in.

​”We have the agric core, medical core,  the education core, we have the tech and digital core, the legal core,  the public service core, the infrastructure core, the green core,  the enterprise core, the creative economy core and finally, the Paramility and Security Core.”

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​She said the reform is part of the government’s intervention to “build the  $1 trillion economy by repositioning NYSC as a civilian-led skill-oriented, productivity driven, and youth empowering national institution.” The reform aims to strengthen human capital development and enhance the workforce to align with national development goals.

​New orientation camp timelines

​The holistic reforms will affect every aspect of the scheme, starting from deployment and registration. The government will also revise the modalities for posting corps members to their places of primary assignment.

​The orientation camp schedule will be overhauled to include the following structure:

​”So we will look to see how many streams can be done.  By stream, I mean the type of additional training we can provide you as a graduate, after graduated from the university.  So, within the orientation camp, there will be new structures,  where you have the first two weeks, which speaks to laying a foundation on civic responsibility,” she revealed.

​”You’ll be made aware of what  that civic duties means, our national values and leadership development. The next two weeks, we’ll look to career mapping, basic accounting, literacy skills, business planning and access to finance.

​”There after, we will introduce a structured career day program to enable corps members engaged directly with the public, but importantly, the final two weeks, which is a minimal period, we intend to have a focused corps stream specific training.”

​The new structures align with the corps members’ designated stream based on their choice, academic background, and skill profile.

​”So each Corps member, once he’s in, when once he has uploaded and he has been recognized and accepted as a Corps member, he’s required to pick one of those Corps , and once he registers in that, then we recognize him and certain trainings will be given for each of those cores within the two weeks.”