ENUGU, Nigeria (VOICE OF NAIJA)- African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate and activist, Omoyele Sowore, has pledged to abolish the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and replace the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with a voluntary employment-focused programme if elected President of Nigeria.
Sowore made the declaration in a post on his X handle on Wednesday, arguing that both institutions have outlived their relevance and should give way to reforms that promote merit, practical skills, employment opportunities and institutional autonomy.
Unveiling his proposed education reforms, the former presidential candidate said tertiary institutions should take full responsibility for admitting students without the involvement of a central examination body.
“When I become President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, JAMB will be abolished. Admission into tertiary institutions should be determined by the institutions themselves under a transparent, merit-based system, not by another layer of bureaucracy,” he wrote.
According to Sowore, universities, polytechnics and colleges of education are better positioned to determine who qualifies for admission, insisting that the current centralised admission process creates unnecessary bureaucracy.
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On the future of the NYSC, Sowore said he would scrap the compulsory one-year national service scheme and replace it with a two-year voluntary National Job Corps designed to prepare young Nigerians for the labour market.
“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 said.
Explaining the motivation behind the proposal, Sowore argued that Nigeria’s youth require access to jobs and economic opportunities rather than compulsory government programmes.
“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 barely 24 hours after the Federal Executive Council (FEC) approved a comprehensive overhaul of the NYSC scheme, marking its first major reform since the programme was established in 1973.
Under the approved reforms, the orientation camp will be extended from three weeks to six weeks, while 11 specialised career streams will be introduced.
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The reforms also include a restructuring of corps members’ deployment to reflect prevailing security realities, replacement of the traditional Passing Out Parade with a graduation ceremony and greater emphasis on skills acquisition, entrepreneurship, financial literacy and career development.
The Federal Government also approved civilian leadership for the scheme, upgraded orientation camp facilities through a national grading and certification system, technology-driven deployment and skills-based primary assignments aligned with corps members’ academic qualifications. In addition, the Attorney-General of the Federation has been directed to amend the NYSC Act to provide the legal framework for the reforms.
According to the government, the changes are aimed at transforming the 53-year-old scheme into a productivity-driven institution capable of equipping young Nigerians with practical skills while supporting Nigeria’s ambition of building a $1 trillion economy.
Sowore also criticised JAMB despite a series of recent reforms introduced by the examination body.
JAMB recently announced the discontinuation of affiliated degree programmes in Colleges of Education from the 2026/2027 academic session, introduced alternative admission pathways for affected candidates and exempted applicants seeking admission into National Certificate in Education (NCE) programmes and selected agriculture-related National Diploma courses from sitting the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
The examination body has also retained its minimum admission age policy while sustaining efforts to eliminate illegal admissions through its Central Admissions Processing System (CAPS).
Despite the reforms, Sowore maintained that admissions into tertiary institutions should be handled directly by universities, polytechnics and other higher institutions without JAMB serving as an intermediary.