Reported by: Ijeoma G | Edited by: Oravbiere Osayomore Promise.
Presidential candidate of the African Action Congress (AAC), Omoyele Sowore, has unveiled a sweeping education and youth service reform agenda, declaring that he would abolish the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and scrap the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in its current mandatory form if elected president. Sowore made the announcement on Wednesday, July 1, 2026, in a post on his X handle, outlining a vision that would give universities full autonomy over admissions and replace compulsory youth service with a voluntary two-year National Job Corps focused on employment and skills development.
"I will abolish JAMB. Admission into tertiary institutions should be determined by the institutions themselves under a transparent, merit-based system, not by another layer of bureaucracy," Sowore wrote. He argued that Nigerian universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education should have the freedom to admit qualified candidates without the intervention of a central examination body, describing the current system as an unnecessary bureaucratic bottleneck.
On the NYSC, Sowore was equally blunt. "The National Youth Service Corps, in its current form, will be scrapped. In its place, we will establish a two-year, voluntary National Job Corps that guarantees participants meaningful employment, practical skills, entrepreneurship support, and pathways into permanent careers," he declared. He insisted that young Nigerians do not need more compulsory government schemes but rather opportunities, jobs, skills, and the freedom to choose their futures. "Nigeria's young people do not need more compulsory schemes. They need opportunities, jobs, skills, and the freedom to choose their future," he added.
Sowore's proposal comes just a day after the Federal Executive Council approved a comprehensive overhaul of the NYSC scheme, the first major review of the programme since its establishment in 1973. The government's reforms, announced on June 30, 2026, extend the orientation camp from three to six weeks, introduce 11 specialised career streams, restructure deployment to reflect security realities, replace the traditional Passing Out Parade with a graduation ceremony, and place greater emphasis on skills acquisition, financial literacy, entrepreneurship, and career development. The reforms also provide for civilian leadership of the scheme, upgraded camp facilities, technology-driven deployment, and skills-based primary assignments aligned with corps members' academic backgrounds.
Sowore's criticism of JAMB also follows the examination body's recent policy reforms, including the discontinuation of affiliated degree programmes in Colleges of Education from the 2026/2027 academic session, the introduction of new admission pathways for affected candidates, and the exemption of applicants seeking admission into National Certificate in Education and selected agriculture-related National Diploma programmes from sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination. The board has also maintained its minimum admission age policy and continued efforts to curb illegal admissions through its Central Admissions Processing System. Despite these changes, Sowore maintained that admissions into tertiary institutions should be handled directly by universities without JAMB acting as an intermediary.
The proposed National Job Corps, if implemented, would mark a fundamental shift in how Nigeria manages youth service and employment. By replacing compulsory national service with a voluntary programme focused on employment, entrepreneurship, and career development, Sowore's plan seeks to address the persistent challenge of youth unemployment while giving young Nigerians greater agency over their futures. Whether his proposals gain traction remains to be seen, but they have already sparked fresh debate over the relevance of two of Nigeria's most established federal institutions.
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