NYSC plans zonal skills centres

THE National Youth Service Corps is to establish a Skills Acquisition Centre in each of the six geo-political zones of the country.

Director-General of the Scheme, Brigadier-General Suleman Kazaure, dropped the hint while speaking to newsmen at the NYSC Cross Rivers State Orientation Camp, Obubra.
Kazaure, who said his administration would accord top priority to the empowerment of Corps members with skills for self-employment, added that the Skills Centres project would start with one in the North-East to be sited in Gombe State. Already, the Scheme has one, which has been completed at Iyin-Ekiti in Ekiti state. Addressing the Corps members earlier, the Director-General enjoined them to strive towards becoming self-employed and even employers, especially by taking advantage of opportunities provided through the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme. He told them that they could get start-off funds through the NYSC/BOI Graduate Empowerment Fund as well as the CBN/NYSC/Heritage Bank Youth Empowerment Scheme.

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The Director-General also used the occasion of his interaction with the 2016 Batch ‘A’ (Stream II) Corps members in Ebonyi and Cross River States Orientation Camps to advise them to avoid the get-rich-quick syndrome, and instead work hard to make lawful earnings.
Kazaure particularly warned them against engagement in illicit drug trafficking and other social and economic vices. The Director-General enjoined them to be passionate while in pursuit of lawful ventures, and to always be guided by the fear of God. “There is no shortcut to success; so, do not seek shortcut. Whatever lawful endeavour you are engaged in, be focused and do it with passion and you will succeed. “The foundation has already been laid with your academic attainments. I believe that as graduates, the sky is your limit,” he said.
Kazaure also used the occasion to drum support for the anti-graft war of the present administration; noting that some countries that were once moving at the same economic pace with Nigeria had seen overtaken it.

He, therefore, urged the Corps members to join the war against corruption and to always contribute towards making Nigeria great. Earlier in her welcome address, the NYSC Ebonyi State Coordinator Mrs. Gladys Mbachi said the 1,932 Corps members undergoing Orientation course were well behaved and participating actively in camp activities. At the Cross River State Orientation camp, Obubra, the Coordinator Mrs. Anidobi told the Director-General that the camp was not connected to the public power grid – a situation which compels the use of power generators throughout the orientation period. She, therefore, stressed the need for provision of a dedicated power transformer for the camp.