Joseph Bakare
As part of its efforts to expand the scope of its Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development training for Corps Members, the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has partnered with the National Automotive Design and Development Council (NADDC).
Speaking during the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), on the integration of CNG retrofitting training into the NYSC SAED programme, with the NADDC in Abuja, the Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu said the Scheme has facilities that support a wide range of trainings, having facilitated the in-camp Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) training for more than 300,000 Corps Members annually.
He added that through the SAED programme which was established in 2012, about One and a half Million Corps Members have engaged in their post-camp trainings in different vocations nationwide.
General Nafiu said the Scheme would continue to ensure that Corps Members are better reformed and well-equipped before the end of their service year.
He appreciated the Minister for Youth Development Comrade Ayodele Olawande, the Special Assistant to the President on Youth Initiatives, Dr Titilope Gbadamosi and the leadership of the NADDC for choosing to invest in Corps Members.
“For over five decades the NYSC has been mobilising Nigerian graduates in support of unity and development. In response to the growing rate of unemployment. We launched the NYSC SAED programme in 2012 because service with skills leaves Corps Members better equipped”.
“We recognized that we cannot achieve SAED’s full potential without the kind of technical partnership the NADDC brings to the table today.”
“The NYSC offers a nationwide presence unmatched by any other institution as we operate in every State of Nigeria welcoming thousands of graduates”.
“We would take optimal advantage of this opportunity by making our Orientation Camps and training venues available in mobilising Corps Members and provide the necessary administrative structure”, General Nafiu stated.
The Director General also said the partnership would enable Corps Members to become certified practitioners in the field that Nigeria currently needs.
He promised the Scheme’s full readiness to the collaboration towards making Corps Members certified CNG technicians.
The Director General of NADDC, Otunba Joseph Osanipin, in his remarks said the council was committed to the integration of the CNG retrofitting training into the NYSC SAED programme.
He said the council’s commitment to the MoU for an initial period of three years is a reflection of the seriousness it attached to the training.
He said; “Through this partnership NADDC will deploy its full technical capacity to design and deliver a CNG retrofitting curriculum of highest professional standard that would produce Corps Members of engineering background who are genuinely certified, practically competent and enterprise ready”.
“The three-year tenure before us is enough to demonstrate that we can deliver an outcome that will transform lives”.
He expressed optimism that NADDC was committed to the success of the partnership.
The Special Assistant to the President on Youth Initiatives, Dr Titilope Gbadamosi, in her remarks said the core objective of the collaboration is to build certified CNG technicians through the Corps Members that would support the Federal Government’s energy transition agenda, while simultaneously equipping Nigerian youths with market relevant vocational skills.
The Minister for Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande added that the inter-agency collaboration between the NYSC and NADDC could create five thousand jobs for the youths.
He called on other stakeholders to fill up the skill gaps and create enabling environment for the youths to thrive.
He also disclosed that the Federal Government had been promoting CNG initiative for the past three years, adding that; “the Nigerian youths must not be left behind. We must not bring people from other areas to come and fix our CNG or from different countries to come and earn our income and claim we have no job”.
He appealed to the youths to use the opportunity of the service year to equip themselves with skills and also create jobs for others at the end of their service year.
“I am very happy that the NADDC will fully fund this program for three years, while the NYSC will provide its SAED platform for the training” he said.
Comrade Olawande added that the training must not only be practical, with high standards but also enable the beneficiaries gain skills that would support their future.