African Action Congress (AAC) presidential candidate, Omoyele Sowore, has pledged to abolish the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in their current forms if elected President of Nigeria.
Announcing the proposal in a post shared on his X account on Wednesday, Sowore said both institutions have outlived their usefulness and should be replaced with systems that promote merit, institutional independence, practical skills, and employment opportunities.
According to the former presidential candidate, the existing admission process managed by JAMB has become an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy that limits the autonomy of tertiary institutions. He argued that universities, polytechnics, and colleges of education should have the authority to admit qualified candidates directly through transparent and merit-based procedures without relying on a central examination body.
Sowore also unveiled plans to overhaul the NYSC scheme, saying the mandatory one-year national service would be replaced with a voluntary two-year National Job Corps. He explained that the proposed programme would be designed to provide participants with meaningful employment, practical skills, entrepreneurship support, and clear pathways to permanent careers, rather than maintaining the current structure of compulsory national service.
Sowore declared that admission into higher institutions should be determined solely by the institutions themselves under a fair and transparent process. He maintained that removing JAMB would eliminate what he described as an additional bureaucratic hurdle and allow schools to manage admissions in line with their academic standards while ensuring qualified candidates are given equal opportunities.
“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.
“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,” Sowore stated.
The proposal comes amid ongoing national conversations about reforms in Nigeria’s education and youth development sectors.
