Nigeria's Former Leaders Urged to Safeguard NYSC Reforms

The National Alliance for Democracy (NAD), a civil‑society group, has appealed to former Nigerian leaders—including General Yakubu Gowon, former Presidents Olusegun Obasanjo and Ibrahim Babangida—to intervene in the Federal Executive Council’s approved reforms of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). NAD warns that certain proposals, such as a stronger emphasis on vocational skills, commercial objectives, and technology‑driven mobilisation, could dilute the programme’s core mission of fostering national unity, integration and post‑civil‑war reconciliation.

The group calls for wider stakeholder consultations and for the elder statesmen to meet President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to ensure any changes preserve the NYSC’s nation‑building role and protect the safety and welfare of corps members. NAD stresses that the NYSC’s deployment model, which places graduates in states other than their own, remains vital for inter‑ethnic understanding and national cohesion.