The Honourable Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, has clarified that the Federal Government has not approved any extension of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme to two years, saying the idea remains a mere proposal under discussion.
Dr Alausa made the clarification while speaking as a special guest at the Renewed Hope Global Virtual Town Hall Conference over the weekend, where he addressed pressing issues in Nigeria’s education sector, including the country’s out-of-school crisis.
“There is no official policy to extend NYSC to two years. What I mentioned was only a suggestion during a roundtable discussion on how we can reform NYSC better to serve the needs of our graduates and the country,” the minister stated.
According to him, the proposed reform was borne out of concern that many Nigerian graduates complete their service year without concrete direction or job opportunities, stressing the need to re-evaluate the relevance of the scheme in meeting the current realities.
“We are only thinking aloud on how the NYSC can be more impactful — especially in national development, employability, and skills acquisition,” he explained. “For anything to change, we must revisit the NYSC Act and work with the Honourable Minister of Youth Development, who oversees the scheme.”
Dr. Alausa emphasised that such a proposal would need widespread consultations, legal reviews, and legislative amendments before any implementation could be considered.
