The Federal Government has announced plans to empower at least 5,000 members of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) with 10 million Naira each to fund their entrepreneurial ventures after they complete the NYSC scheme.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Youths Development, Dr. Jamila Bio 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.
The Minister noted that the Funding Initiative aligns with improving NYSC reforms and is distinct from Nigeria Youth Investment Fund program set 2024.
“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 beneficial to both the Nation and the Corps members?
“So we envision a future where the NYSC programme is not self-sustaining, but also a revenue generating programme within the five years.
“To achieve this, we will institutionalize 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 NYSC, making stategic investments across various sectors. And also highlighted the targeted sectors of 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 the youth-led entrepreneurial ventures, positioning it as a critical steps 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 venture funded to emerge programme in various strategic sectors driving innovation and economic growth”, she added.
The Minister therefore urged the participants as the custodians of higher education in Nigeria, to bear responsibility of nurturing the intellectual, moral and civic capacity of the nation’s youth.
-9News Nigeria.
