President William Ruto has directed the Ministries of Defence and Interior and National Administration to allocate at least 30 per cent of their vacancies to the National Youth Service (NYS) recruits.

He said the move is aimed at ensuring that the skills acquired by the servicemen and women is put to meaningful use.

Also directed to absorb the servicemen are the ministries of Environment, Climate Change and Forestry, Tourism, Wildlife and Heritage.

He added that this will encourage and motivate many young Kenyans on their path to national service and productivity.

The President noted that the youth have the energy, talents and drive that can help in the transformation of Kenya.

He made the remarks on Friday during the NYS recruits passing out parade at the National Youth Service Paramilitary Academy in Gilgil, Nakuru County.

“We will double the NYS enrollment to 20,000 a year as a mechanism of building sufficient patriotism and according opportunities to millions of the youth,” he said.

He lauded NYS for its plan to contribute to the enhancement of Government service delivery by providing personnel to assist in digitisation, automation and migration of Government services online.

He noted that the Service’s plan to escalate its participation by expanding enrolment to ICT in its programmes is an indication of commitment to establish the youth as indispensable engines of transformation.

The President observed that the Service should be facilitated by the Ministry of Water, Sanitation and Irrigation to engage in the construction of at least 100 dams and water pans yearly.

This, he added, will support the Government agenda and enhance NYS’ financial self-reliance.

“This spirit of productive learning should extend to cultivation of nearly 80,000 acres of land under commercial food production,” he argued.