The Federal Government has announced plans to empower at least 5,000 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with N10 million each to fund their entrepreneurial ventures after they complete the NYSC scheme.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Youth Development, Dr. Jamila Ibrahim, during the opening ceremony of the inaugural meeting of the NYSC management with heads of Corps Producing Institutions (CPI) in Nigeria, held on Monday in Abuja.
She noted that this funding initiative aligns with the upcoming NYSC reforms and is distinct from the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund program set for 2024.
What she said
According to her, she will be inaugurating a team to undertake the review, restructuring and reforms of the NYSC.
“The thrust of these reforms will be centred on imbuing participants with an entrepreneurship mindset and making skills development the core of the programme.”
“Though that is already part of the objectives carried out by the scheme, the aim is to partner with it to strengthen the mandate.
“How do we make the scheme more efficient, more effective and more beneficial to both the nation and the Corps members?
“So, we envision a future where the NYSC programme is not only self-sustaining, but also a revenue generating programme within the next five years.
“To achieve this, we will institutionalise the NYSC ventures as an investment and asset management outfit,” she said.
The minister explained that this initiative would allow the Federal Government to effectively utilize and manage the extensive assets of the NYSC, making strategic investments across various sectors. She highlighted the targeted sectors for these investments as agriculture, manufacturing, garment making, communication, and digital banking.
She emphasized that this effort reflects the current administration’s commitment to investing in youth-led entrepreneurial ventures, positioning it as a crucial step towards involving young people in Nigeria’s progress towards becoming a trillion-dollar economy.
“The National Youth Skills programme will play a pivotal role in these reforms. While typically a 12-month programme this year, we’ll start a six months abridged version.
“We expect the ventures funded to emerge from this programme in various strategic sectors driving innovation and economic growth,” she added.
Ibrahim therefore urged the participants, as the custodians of higher education in Nigeria, to bear the profound responsibility of nurturing the intellectual, moral and civic capacity of the nation’s youth.