A Federal High Court in Abuja has overturned the ban on skirts for female members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), describing the directive as unconstitutional and discriminatory.
Justice Hauwa Joseph Yilwa, delivering judgment, ruled that insisting on trousers as the sole acceptable uniform for female corps members infringes their constitutionally protected rights to freedom of religion and human dignity.
The suit was brought by two former corps members, Ogunjobi John Blessing and Ayuba Vivian, who were denied discharge certificates for refusing to wear trousers during their service year. The court later consolidated their separate cases.
Justice Yilwa held that “the refusal of the NYSC to recognise and allow skirt as part of its uniform is a breach of their right as contained in Section 38(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) as well as Deuteronomy 22 v 5 of the Bible.”
The court awarded ₦10 million in damages against the NYSC for violating the plaintiffs’ rights.
Ayuba, a 2018 Microbiology graduate of Kaduna State University, had been posted to Zamfara State and rejected the trousers issued to her on religious grounds.
In its defence, the NYSC maintained that corps members agree to abide by the scheme’s rules, including a standardised uniform designed to promote discipline and unity.
The court, however, found that enforcing a trousers-only policy for female corps members cannot override constitutionally guaranteed religious freedoms.