The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, has called for increased support to strengthen Corps members’ financial literacy, technical skills, mentorship, and access to start-up grants, as part of efforts to empower them to become successful entrepreneurs.
General Nafiu made the appeal in a keynote address delivered at the NYSC Stakeholders Meeting on Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED), held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja. The event brought together key stakeholders committed to supporting youth development and economic empowerment.
Represented by the Director of Planning, Research and Statistics, Dr. Ahmed Wada Ikaka, the NYSC DG noted that although over three million Corps members have been trained in various vocational skills since the SAED programme began in 2012, only a limited number have transitioned into actual business ownership.
He attributed this disparity to limited access to start-up capital and the rigid requirements attached to available funding opportunities, which often discourage potential young entrepreneurs.
General Nafiu expressed gratitude to partners such as NNPCL Foundation, Activate Success, and Wema Bank, for their role in subsidizing business registration costs for over 30,000 Corps members through the Corporate Affairs Commission. He assured stakeholders that the Scheme had taken deliberate steps to ensure accountability for all forms of support provided.
He highlighted the Scheme’s recent digital upgrades through the NYSC Integrated System (NIS), which now allows Corps members to access skill acquisition resources, track progress, and participate in job-readiness training, including mock interviews and CV reviews via their dashboards.
“We are not just equipping Corps members with skills, but also helping them navigate the job market through initiatives like the Job Awareness Creation Programme,” he said.
In addition, he revealed ongoing collaborations with national and international bodies to broaden opportunities for Corps members. These include partnerships with the Office of the Vice President of Nigeria on the Outsource to Nigeria Initiative (OTNI), and the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy’s Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) project.
“These efforts will be instrumental in achieving the youth inclusion and job creation targets of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda,” Nafiu added.
Earlier, the Director of SAED, Mr. Kehinde Aremu-Cole, described the meeting as an opportunity to honour partnerships that have sustained the SAED programme. He encouraged stakeholders to contribute actively by sharing insights and proposing fresh strategies to strengthen the initiative.
The meeting, themed “Transforming Corps Members: Strengthening Partnership for Sustainable Skills Acquisition and Empowerment”, aimed to reinforce collaboration among stakeholders working to secure a brighter economic future for Nigerian youth.
