The Federal Government has lifted the ban restricting the posting of members of the National Youth Service Corps to the public sector, allowing for corpers to now be posted to private sector organizations, including banks and oil and gas companies.

According to a memo issued by the Minister for Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, the new policy directive will take effect with the commencement of the 2024 Batch ‘C’ Orientation exercise.

The previous policy implemented during the tenure of former Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Bolaji Abdullahi, aimed at discouraging private companies from exploiting cheap labour while promoting public sector capacity building, restricted corps members to only four sectors of the economy, including education, agriculture, health, and infrastructure.

Olawande said the new policy follows President Bola Tinubu’s strategy to combat rising youth unemployment by ensuring that government agencies align with the vision of his administration, adding that the directive will initially take effect in Lagos and Abuja.