A Federal High Court in Abuja has declared as unconstitutional and a breach of fundamental rights to freedom of religion the National Youth Service Corps’ (NYSC) refusal to allow female corps members to wear skirts in observance of their religious beliefs.

Justice Hauwa Joseph Yilwa held in judgement that, the NYSC’s enforcement of trousers as the only acceptable uniform for female participants violated their constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of religion and human dignity.

The cases which were separately filed by former corps members, Miss Ogunjobi John Blessing and Miss Ayuba Vivian, were consolidated and both adjudicated by Justice Yilwa.

In suits marked FHC/ABJ/CS/989/2020 and FHC/ABJ/CS/988/2020 respectively, the applicants argued that, being compelled to wear trousers ran contrary to their Christian faith, referencing Deuteronomy 22:5 which they interpret as forbidding women from donning garments associated with men.

In a judgment delivered on June 13 and 14, 2025, a certified true copy which was sighted on Sunday in Abuja, the court held that the NYSC’s insistence on trousers not only infringe on the applicants’ right to manifest their religion under Section 38(1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), but also subjected them to undue harassment and degrading treatment.

Justice Yilwa, in strongly worded decisions, granted all the reliefs sought by the applicants and issued identical orders in both cases, declaring that, the refusal to allow skirts for religious purposes is unconstitutional.

“An order mandating NYSC to recognise and permit the use of skirts for female corps members with genuine religious objections.

“A directive compelling the NYSC to recall the affected former corps members and certificates issued to each of them accordingly”, the judge held and further declared that, the harassment, embarrassment and humiliation which the Applicants were subjected to in the hands of the agents of the respondents is a clear infringement on their fundamental right to religion and freedom to manifest the same in practice.”

The judge awarded N500,000 in damages to each applicant for the violation of their fundamental rights.

Although both applicants had claimed N10 million in damages, the court described the N500,000 award as adequate in the circumstances.

The judgment further held that, denying the applicants an avenue to complete their service due to their attire amounted to religious discrimination.