19th November 2024
By Idris Buba
If the memo by the Minister for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, dated November 18, 2024 is anything to go by, members of the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC can now be posted to private sector organizations, including banks and oil and gas companies for their primary assignment.
According to a memo, the new policy directive will take effect with the commencement of the 2024 Batch ‘C’ Orientation exercise and will initially take effect in Lagos and Abuja.
This is sequel to Federal Government lifting of the ban restricting the posting of members of the National Youth Service Corps to the public sector, allowing for corpers to now be posted to private sector organisations, including banks and oil and gas companies.
The previous policy implemented during the tenure of former Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, had aimed at discouraging private companies from exploiting cheap labour while promoting public sector capacity building, restricted corps members to only four sectors of the economy, including education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure.
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Olawande said the new policy follows President Bola Tinubu’s strategy to combat rising youth unemployment by ensuring that government agencies align with the vision of his administration.
The new policy would also allow the corpers to gain valuable experience in their chosen fields of study as against the previous policy that hampered Nigerian youths from gaining experiences that would prepare them for the labour market.
Part of the minister’s memo noted that ,“There is an urgent need to review this policy to expand the opportunity and access for corps members to serve in places that are relevant to their areas of study, without prejudice to the need to constantly review per prevailing realities, I now direct as follows: Lifting of all restrictions on postings.
“The now revoked policy had greatly hampered experience gathering that would effectively prepare them for the job market.” after their service year.
