The Minister of Education, Dr. Olatunji Alausa has called for the extension of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme from one to two years.
In a statement posted on NYSC’s official Facebook page on the courtesy visit of the Director-General, Brigadier General Nafiu (rtd.) to the minister in Abuja on Friday, Alausa also called for the expansion of the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme content for corps members.
‘The minister also advocated for the extension of national service from one to two years, with the expansion of NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Training programme content for corps members’, the statement read.
Alausa also advocated for the deployment of more graduate teachers to serve in rural schools, saying this would fill the manpower gap in the schools.
He commended the management of NYSC for its proactive and digitalised efforts in the mobilisation process, aimed at curbing certificate racketeering involving some foreign-trained graduates within West Africa.
The minister also hailed the scheme for resolving the lingering issue of part-time graduates with Ordinary National Diploma and their full-time counterparts with Higher National Diploma, who were previously exempted from the NYSC scheme.
Alausa stated further that efforts were ongoing in the ministry to digitise the verification of foreign-trained graduates of Nigerian origin, saying the Ministry and NYSC would further strengthen their alliance towards the improvement of education for national development.
‘You have done so well as an organisation. Let NYSC give people more opportunities to become job creators that will meet the needs of the country’, he said.
Earlier, Nafiu lauded the ministry’s innovation and giant strides in the education sector.
He called for the establishment of a database for Nigerian youths going abroad to study for degree programmes, adding that this would help the government and other stakeholders in the education sector identify fake graduates.
‘NYSC is ready to comply with policy guidelines as directed by the Federal Government. We are also trying to reform the Scheme to conform with the present national needs’, he said.
The Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Mr. Abel Olumuyiwa Enitan said that the Ministry’s readiness to work with NYSC more effectively towards uplifting the standard of education in the country.
