Joseph Bakare
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has restated its commitment to lead youth economic transformation within the African continent.
The Director General of NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu stated this in his keynote address at an interactive session between the NYSC Top Management and stakeholders at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre, Abuja.
General Nafiu disclosed that NYSC has been in the forefront of empowering young Nigerian graduates with entrepreneurial knowledge and skills in diverse vocations since the inception of its Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme in 2012, which is in line with the reforms being proposed by the Federal Government of Nigeria.
He reiterated that the Scheme is doubling its efforts to expand the scope of the training, to keep pace not only with the government reforms, but with global trends in youth empowerment.
“The proposed Federal Government reforms align perfectly with the Scheme’s ongoing strategy for SAED, which makes it not only a skills centre but also a springboard for entrepreneurship, innovation, and digital inclusion”.
“Since the introduction of SAED in 2012, the Programme has been instrumental in shifting the narrative from job-seeking to job creation and in exposing Corps Members to vocational skills, entrepreneurship training, and enterprise opportunities”, he stated.
The Director General also stated that the theme of the meeting; “Transforming SAED: Building a DataDriven Operating Model for Standardized Delivery, Accountability and Measurable Impact”, reflects the strategic step in the right direction being taken by the NYSC towards transforming the programme to meet the demands of contemporary world economy.
While appreciating the stakeholders for having faith in the NYSC as a strategic partner in grooming young entrepreneurs, and their invaluable contributions to the milestones attained by the Scheme through the SAED programme, General Nafiu called for a stronger synergy in the areas of Artificial Intelligence, automation, robotics, digital platforms, remote work, green technologies and creative economy, which are currently redefining the nature of jobs and the skills required to succeed in today’s world.
“I thank all stakeholders and partner organizations for the relationship we have nurtured over the years, which has transformed our SAED programme from where we started in 2012 to what it is today. Your partnership has strengthened the SAED programme and expanded opportunities for thousands of Corps Members nationwide” he added.
Speaking further, he said that Nigeria has one of the world’s youngest population, and if well equipped with relevant modern skills, entrepreneurial capabilities, digital competence, and the mindset to create value in a rapidly changing economy, the young Nigerians have all it takes to thrive for the country’s benefit, whether they work at home or elsewhere across the globe.
General Nafiu unveiled that NYSC’s vision is to make sure SAED evolves from a training programme into a national platform for youth economic transformation.
He therefore charged that the Scheme’s SAED curricular has to be future-focused, paying keen attention to digital skills, artificial intelligence, financial technology, agribusiness, renewable energy, manufacturing, creative industries, and other high-growth sectors.
He equally called on participants at the meeting to focus on how to strengthen enterprise pathways, so as to secure more funding to support Corps Members with post-camp skill mentorship, incubation, access to finance, market opportunities, and business advisory services that would enable ideas to grow into sustainable enterprises; and cited a recent partnership forged between NYSC and the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University, Lagos, as the way to go.
The NYSC helmsman also urged the discussants to come up with evidence-driven resolutions, guided by reliable data that will clearly tell the world the number businesses established, jobs created, incomes generated, and lives transformed.
He also called for stronger collaborations from industries, financial institutions, technology companies, development partners, and educational institutions, in order to sustain the impact and relevance of the SAED programme.
“NYSC has always been more than a one-year national service programme. It is one of Nigeria’s foremost institutions for nation-building and youth development. As we look towards the next decade, and as these reforms take root, I envisage a Scheme that not only promotes national unity and leadership development, but one that serves as Nigeria’s largest platform for youth innovation, entrepreneurship, and digital transformation”.
“I also look forward to a SAED Programme that, through these reforms, produces graduates who are globally competitive, technologically proficient, entrepreneurial in mindset, and equipped to contribute meaningfully to national productivity as envisioned by the Federal Government’s youth policy”, he concluded.
Earlier, the Scheme’s Acting Director of SAED, Mrs Winifred Shokpeka in her welcome remarks unveiled that the NYSC management convened the forum to present its scorecard to the partners for the purpose of strengthening their age-long collaborations, in order to record more successes as a team.
She stated that NYSC’s SAED programme received a cumulative sum of Two Hundred and Eighty-Three Billion, Nine Hundred and Eleven Thousand Naira as loans and grants to fund Corps entrepreneurs’ enterprises across the country between 2017 and 2023.
Mrs Shokpeka gave kudos to the Bank of Industry, Access bank, Central Bank of Nigeria, Unity bank, Wema bank, British America Tobacco Nigeria Foundation, Activate Success Fondation, Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation Foundation, Fidelity bank, United Capital Assurance and other public and private partners that are committed to youth empowerment for their immeasurable support in funding Corps Members’ businesses.
She emphasized the need to come up with a standardized data-driven model during the meeting, with a view to ensuring an improved SAED programme devoid of inconsistencies that would enhance accountability.
The Acting Director therefore implored them to come up with ideas that would ensure every intervention is measurable, every investment is accounted for, every process is standardized and every success story is supported by credible and reliable data for the purpose of transparency.
“In today’s rapidly evolving digital environment, data has become the foundation for effective planning, informed decision-making, performance measurement, transparency and continuous improvement”, she added.