Aisha Buhari solicits private sector support for NYSC’s skills training

The Wife of the President, Aisha Buhari, has called on private sector organisations to support and partner the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in promoting its skills acquisition programme.

She made the call in Abuja on Thursday at the closing ceremony of the maiden edition of the NYSC Entrepreneurship Festival.

The festival with the theme, “Inculcating Entrepreneurship Mindset in our Youths for Self-Reliance and National Development’’ was organised by the NYSC.

Aisha who was represented by Dame Pauline Tallen, a former Deputy Governor of Plateau, said the NYSC’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (SAED) had the capability to assist the government in addressing youth unemployment.

While commending the critical stakeholders for sustaining the programme for over six years, she called for more private sector support for the scheme.

“I pledge to continue to support the scheme which is designed to develop and empower the youths in entrepreneurship.

“While I appreciate the private sector organisations that are already supporting and partnering with the scheme, I call on other organisations yet to key into it to begin to do so.

“They should take advantage of the good resources available in the NYSC to deepen the nation’s efforts towards attaining development.

“What we have seen today showed that there is hope and if the scheme is sustained, it will help in tackling the rate of unemployment,’’ Aisha said.

The Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung charged the NYSC not to relent in its efforts to improving the scheme to produce “a crop of corps members the nation would be proud of’’.

He commended the efforts of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry (BoI), Chinese Embassy, the International Labour Organisation amongst other organisations in promoting the scheme.

The minister said the support from the organisations had enabled the scheme to provide start-up capital for corps members to start their businesses thereby inculcating the spirit of self reliance in the youths.

He said with the scheme, the NYSC had in no small measure complemented the efforts of the Administration in creating jobs for the teeming youths.

It was reported that with SAED programme, corps members can receive loan of up to N2 million to start up their businesses after submitting a business proposal to the financial institutions.

Brig.-Gen. Suleiman Kazaure, the NYSC Director-General disclosed that at the end of the 2017 Batch ‘A’ orientation course over 900,000 corps members had been sensitised under the SAED programme.

Kazaure said out of the number, 7,000 corps members had established their preferred businesses across the country and were doing well.

He said the NYSC was making efforts to advance the gains of the programme through the establishment of mega skills centers in the six-geopolitical zones of the country.

According to Kazaure, the skills centre in the South-West and North-East located in Ekiti and Gombe states respectively were at completion stage while construction works had begun in the South-South centre located in Delta state.

“When completed, the centers will make the post-camp training of corps members more functional.

“Access Bank plc and Hall 7 Developers are partnering with us to actualise the projects,’’ he said.

Kazaure said the SAED programme was introduced in 2012 with the view to empower corps members with the skills for self-employment and wealth creation.

He said the programme had helped in addressing graduate unemployment and changing the mindset of youths who were inclined towards white collar jobs.

It was reported that the entrepreneurship festival started on October 17 in the FCT with a competition by corps members in various skills set like sewing, bead and wire work, ICT and fashion.

Corps members who partook in the competition came from over 20 states of the federation and the winners went home with bicycles, laptops, sewing machines, generator, gas cookers, microwaves and cash gifts.