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The Federal Government has announced plans to turn the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) orientation camps across the country into skill acquisition hubs for the benefit of Corps members.
Minister of Youth Development Comrade Ayodele Olawande, made this known at a maiden interactive session with newsmen on Monday in Abuja, since his elevation from Minister of State to substantive Minister of the Ministry.
Olawande at the event reiterated his earlier directive that NYSC Corps members should not be posted to where is not their area of study, emphasising that there was no going back on the policy. “We said it and we will stand by it and we will work towards it”.
He highlighted the importance of skills set for young people in Nigeria, noting that his Ministry would achieve the transformation of NYSC camps into skills acquisition centres through Public-Private-Partnership of the Government.
Recognising that not every graduate would be gainfully employed in government establishments or in the private sector, the Minister insisted that it was not enough for young Nigerians to serve the country for one year without gaining anything that could help in shaping their lives.
Olawande said: “Very soon, we are doing PPP, we want to turn NYSC orientation camps into skills hub. Enough is enough, you must not spend one year and nothing to gain. The fact remains that we cannot continue like this. Things must change”.
He appealed to the Nigerian youth to have faith in the country and the efforts by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to address multiple challenges bedevilling the nation.
He said he was aware that there are issues of hunger, and unemployment among others “but no spirit or angels” would come from Heaven or elsewhere to fix the country except Nigerians working together to fix the problems.
According to him, that is the platform provided by the President by appointing a youthful person in his person as Minister to drive the affairs of youth constituting a large population of the country in terms of demography.
Olawande also sought the support of the media to enable the ministry to succeed in its set objective to empower the young people of Nigeria to contribute their quota to the economic development of the country.
He said: “We don’t have any other country, and I’m begging you that the future of this country lies on us. A large number of us are youth and I’m pleading that it is the actual time for us to sit tight and let Nigerian youth know that the ministry of youth is for the youth.
“We appreciate the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria for giving us the opportunity for the first time since 1999 to have a youth for youth ministry. We are running an open-door policy.”
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