In preparation to create a digital platform that would enable National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members to acquire skills and entrepreneurship education, the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University played host to the Director-General of NYSC, Brigadier-General Olakunle Nafiu, in its Lagos head office on a skills acquisition scheme for corps members.
Nafiu said the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development department of NYSC was equipped to tackle unemployment in the country among the youth.
Being mindful of the high unemployment rate in the country, he said that was the direction the scheme was headed.
According to him, “It is part of our mandate and responsibility to tackle unemployment. It is one thing for parents and the government to put resources together, subsidise education, get children through the formal education sector, and it is another for the government to be concerned about getting them gainfully employed and productive to the larger society.”
On the partnership, he said: “I am excited about the partnership that we’ve been able to make over these years, and the direction we are headed on this scheme is particularly laudable because our corps members will gain access to the proper skill learning technique to match the current entrepreneurship requirement.”
Speaking on the initiative, the Programmes and Partnerships Director, Enterprise Development Centre (EDC), Dr Olawale Anifowose, stated that the visit marked a huge step towards properly defining the offering that the centre has for corps members, which is “access to our SME toolkit, that will offer them all of the resources that they need as an entrepreneur in Nigeria. All of the resources will build their capacity to enable them to add value as young Nigerians.