NYSC trains over 5,000 corps members in entrepreneurship skills
NAN-HG-11
Entrepreneurship
By Yashim Katurak
Abuja, Nov. 16, 2016 (NAN) Brig.-Gen. Sulaiman Zakari, the Director-General, NYSC, says more than 5,000 corps members who received training in various skills have become employers.
Zakari told Editors and Reporters of various media organisations on Wednesday in Abuja that the beneficiaries underwent the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) training offered by the scheme to enable them own businesses.
He said that over the last four years, no fewer than 600,000 corps members have been trained by the scheme in various skills.
He explained that the aim of the SAED programme was to equip corps members with specific vocational skills based on their interests while developing their business capacities also.
Kazaure said the programme enabled the scheme to contribute towards the eradication of graduate youth unemployment.
He listed some of the areas corps members received training to include agro-allied, food preservation and processing, culture and tourism, cosmetology, information and communication technology.
Others are environment, beautification, construction, education, power and energy, film and photography and automobile technology.
“The Bank of Industry (BoI) through the BoI-NYSC Graduate Empowerment Fund is providing corps entrepreneurs with training and soft loans to establish their own businesses.
“Also the NYSC/CBN Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme (YEDP) is empowering corps entrepreneurs with business loans.
“Since I came on board, we have extended the frontiers of SAED by signing an MoU with the Access Bank Plc for the construction of a huge Skill Training Center in Gombe which is expected to serve corps members in the North-East.
“We are currently in discussion with Hall 7 Developers, the Chinese Embassy and a Chinese businessman for similar establishments in other parts of Nigeria,” Kazaure said.
The Director of Press, Mrs Bose Aderibigbe, had earlier said the media parley was designed to unveil the activities of the scheme and solidify existing cordial relationship between the scheme and media establishments. (NAN)
KRY/MST/MST
Edited by Muhammad Suleiman Tola