National Youth Service Corps

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) is a program set up by the Nigerian government during the military regime to involve Nigerian graduates in nation-building and the development of the country. There is no military conscription in Nigeria, but since 1973, graduates of universities and polytechnics have been required to take part in the National Youth Service Corps program for one mandatory year. This is known as national service year. Ahmadu Ali served as the first Director-General of the NYSC until 1975.[2] The incumbent Director-General is Yusha'u Dogara Ahmed.

Objectives of the Program

The objectives of the National Youth Service Corps Program are enumerated in Decree No.51 of 16 June 1993 as follows:

To inculcate discipline in Nigerian youths by instilling in them a tradition of industry at work and of patriotic and loyal service to Nigeria in any situation they may find themselves.

To raise the moral tone of the Nigerian youths by allowing them to learn about higher ideals of national achievement, social and cultural improvement

To develop in the Nigerian youths the attitudes of mind acquired through shared experience and suitable training. Which will make them more amenable to mobilization in the national interest

To enable Nigerian youths to acquire the spirit of self-reliance by encouraging them to develop skills for self-employment

To contribute to the accelerated growth of the national economy

To develop common ties among the Nigerian youths and promote national unity and integration

To remove prejudices, eliminate ignorance, and confirm firsthand the many similarities among Nigerians of all ethnic groups

To develop a sense of corporate existence and common destiny of the people of Nigeria.

The equitable distribution of members of the service corps and the effective utilization of their skills in the area of national needs

That as far as possible, youths are assigned to jobs in States other than their States of origin

That such a group of youths assigned to work together is as representative of Nigeria as possible

That the Nigerian youths are exposed to the modes of living of the people in different parts of Nigeria

That the Nigerian youths are encouraged to eschew religious intolerance by accommodating religious differences

That member of the service corps are encouraged to seek, at the end of their one-year national service, career employment all over Nigeria, thus promoting the free movement of labor

That employers are induced partly through their experience with members of the service corps to employ, more readily and permanently, qualified Nigerians, irrespective of their States of origin.