Sam Amadi, Director of the Abuja School of Social Thought and Politics, has stated that participation in the National Youth Service Corps should no longer be compulsory.
Amadi made the remark on Tuesday during an interview on News Central TV while reacting to recent NYSC reform proposals by Bola Tinubu.
According to him, the proposed reforms should move beyond administrative restructuring and focus on making the scheme more relevant to Nigeria’s development priorities.
“National service should not be compulsory. The NYSC has become a cheap labour for private sector. So, the argument here is that the proposed National Youth Service Corps reforms should go beyond structural changes.
“There should be a redesign of the scheme to prioritise literacy, skills development and innovation as part of Nigeria’s broader development agenda.
“You should make it a status that the corps members have a lot of advantages and it’s competitive.
“So, my worry is that this reform still keeps it like a kind of a loose platform that does not address any seriously thought out development agenda,” he said.
Amadi argued that any meaningful reform of the NYSC should create tangible incentives that make participation attractive, competitive, and beneficial to young Nigerians.
He stressed that the scheme should be redesigned to better support literacy, skill acquisition, innovation, and long term national development goals rather than serving primarily as a low cost labour source.
