Cross section of corps members,
The Minister of Education, Olatunji Alausa, has proposed extending the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme from its current one-year duration to two years.
Alausa made this suggestion on Saturday during a courtesy visit by the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, to his office in Abuja.
The minister emphasized that the extension could be implemented by expanding the NYSC’s Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Training program for corps members.
He stated, “You have done so well as an organization. Let NYSC give people more opportunity to become job creators that will meet the needs of the country.”
Alausa also commended the scheme for addressing the long-standing issue of national diploma part-time graduates who had previously been exempted from the national service, alongside full-time higher national diploma graduates.
He further advocated for deploying more graduate teachers to rural schools, noting this would help address the manpower shortage in those areas.
Earlier, Brigadier General Nafiu highlighted the importance of creating a database for Nigerian youths studying abroad for degree programs.
He explained, “This would help the government and other stakeholders in the education sector to have detailed records of Nigerian students studying abroad and also eliminate fake graduates.”
Nafiu assured that the NYSC was prepared to align with the Federal Government’s policy guidelines and is working to reform the scheme to meet the country’s current needs.
In response, Alausa noted that efforts are underway in the Ministry of Education to digitize the verification process for foreign-trained graduates of Nigerian origin.
He assured that the ministry and NYSC would continue to strengthen their partnership to improve education for national development.
