By Nkechi Eze
The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Akinyemi Nafiu, has called on stakeholders to provide increased support for Corps Members in the areas of financial literacy, mentorship, technical training, and access to grants in order to nurture their entrepreneurial potential.
Speaking at the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) stakeholders’ meeting held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja, General Nafiu represented by Dr. Ahmed Wada Ikaka, Director of Planning, Research, and Statistics emphasized the urgent need to bridge the gap between the large number of Corps Members trained in various vocational skills and the relatively few who eventually establish their own businesses.
“The gap is primarily due to limited access to start-up capital and the stringent conditions tied to obtaining such funds,” he noted.
Since the inception of the SAED programme in 2012, the NYSC has trained more than three million Corps Members in entrepreneurship and vocational skills. General Nafiu revealed that many of these trainees have successfully started their own ventures and become employers of labour.
He commended key stakeholders, including NNPCL Foundation, Activate Success, and Wema Bank, for supporting Corps Members by facilitating the registration of over 30,000 businesses with a 50% discount through the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC). This, he said, helps integrate young entrepreneurs into Nigeria’s formal business ecosystem.
In a bid to ensure transparency and proper tracking of stakeholder contributions, the NYSC has upgraded its SAED framework within the NYSC Integrated System (NIS). The system now allows Corps Members to digitally access skills training, job readiness programmes, and track their progress through personal dashboards.
Additionally, the DG disclosed new initiatives aimed at enhancing employability. These include the Job Awareness Creation Program, which features CV reviews, mock interviews, and career development training. The Scheme is also partnering with the Office of the Vice-President through the “Outsource to Nigeria Initiative (OTNI)” to connect Corps Members with employment opportunities both locally and internationally.
Highlighting future prospects, General Nafiu mentioned the NYSC’s budding collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to onboard Corps Members into the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, a flagship of the Renewed Hope Agenda targeting youth digital empowerment and job creation.
Earlier in the event, Mr. Kehinde Aremu-Cole, Director of SAED, reaffirmed the importance of stakeholder collaboration, describing the meeting as a platform to strengthen partnerships and improve the quality of the SAED initiative. He urged participants to contribute ideas and propose innovations to scale up youth empowerment.
