The Federal Government has confirmed plans to replace the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC)’s iconic khaki uniform with locally produced Adire fabric as part of a broad reform agenda aimed at repositioning the scheme and boosting local industries.

The Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this on Thursday during an interview on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief. He said the initiative was designed to promote indigenous textile production and ensure government spending supports the domestic economy.

“It’s Adire. Adire is being produced in Nigeria. We have them in Ogun, we have them in Kwara, we have textile industries. Let’s put our money back into the country,” the minister said.

Olawande also revealed that corps members would increasingly be posted in line with their academic qualifications under the proposed framework. According to him, graduates with education degrees, for example, would be deployed to schools based on their professional backgrounds rather than through the current general posting system.

“After you are leaving the camp, you are not just posted to a school because NYSC wants you to be in a school, but because of the process you followed while in camp. That is going to provide a framework for where you will be posted,” he explained.

On security, the minister said the government was considering deploying prospective corps members to regions where they studied and were already familiar with the environment, particularly in areas facing security challenges.

He noted that the approach would ease the concerns of parents and prospective corps members while making the deployment process more practical and efficient.

“If you have an interest in serving in the North-East, why not? But if you don’t, instead of redeploying you after camp and going through all those processes, we said let us identify those who can comfortably serve in those geographical areas while still achieving the numbers we need, since we want the NYSC to be more impactful,” he said.

The minister also dismissed reports suggesting that the military would be removed from the NYSC, describing the claims as a misunderstanding of the proposed reforms.

The reforms followed the approval by the Federal Executive Council (FEC) on Monday of a comprehensive overhaul of the NYSC, the first major restructuring of the scheme since it was established in 1973.

As part of the reforms, the FEC directed the Attorney-General of the Federation and the Federal Ministry of Youth Development to amend the NYSC Act and its regulations to accommodate the proposed changes.

Under the new framework, the operational leadership of the scheme will be headed by a civilian, while the military will continue to provide security support for corps members across the country.