The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, has called on stakeholders to increase their support for corps members in the areas of financial literacy, mentorship, technical training, and access to funding, to help them achieve their entrepreneurial goals.

This appeal was made in his keynote address at the NYSC Stakeholders’ Meeting on Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED), held at the Nigerian Army Resource Centre in Abuja.

According to a statement by NYSC’s Acting Director of Information and Public Relations, Caroline Embu, the DG was represented at the event by Dr. Ahmed Wada Ikaka, Director of Planning, Research and Statistics.

General Nafiu emphasized the urgent need for more backing, citing a significant gap between the number of corps members trained in vocational skills and those who successfully transition into business ownership. He attributed this to limited access to start-up capital and restrictive conditions attached to obtaining such funds.

He noted that since the launch of the SAED programme in 2012, over 3 million corps members have received entrepreneurial sensitization and hands-on training in various vocations. Many have gone on to start their own businesses and become employers.

The DG also commended organisations such as the NNPCL Foundation, Activate Success, and Wema Bank for helping over 30,000 corps members register their businesses at a 50% discount through the Corporate Affairs Commission, easing their entry into the formal business sector.

He assured stakeholders that all contributions toward empowering corps entrepreneurs would be transparently accounted for. He highlighted that the Scheme had enhanced its SAED operations through the NYSC Integrated System (NIS), giving corps members digital access to training and entrepreneurship resources.

“This system now allows corps members to select and track skills through their personal dashboards. We’ve also launched the Job Awareness Creation Programme, which includes job readiness training, mock interviews, and CV reviews,” Nafiu explained.

He further revealed ongoing efforts to connect corps members with both local and international employers through the Outsource to Nigeria Initiative (OTNI), in collaboration with the Office of the Vice President.

Additionally, the DG disclosed a budding partnership with the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy to involve corps members in the Three Million Technical Talent (3MTT) project — an initiative aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Agenda aimed at youth inclusion and job creation.

Earlier in the event, the Director of SAED, Mr. Kehinde Aremu-Cole, said the meeting, themed “Transforming Corps Members: Strengthening Partnership for Sustainable Skills Acquisition and Empowerment,” aimed to celebrate and deepen existing partnerships driving the SAED programme.

He encouraged participants to share insights, provide feedback, and propose innovative ideas to enhance the impact and sustainability of the initiative.