NYSC urges youth corps members to use service year to bridge skills gaps
Uba said that the highly sought-after white-collar jobs were no longer readily available, hence the need for the acquisition of skills to become self-reliant.
The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on Tuesday tasked youth corps members deployed to Gombe State to take advantage of their service year to bridge their skills gap and become self-employed.
The Acting Director-General of National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Mrs Christy Uba gave the advice during the swearing-in ceremony of the 2022 Batch "C" Stream II corps members at the temporary orientation camp in the Amada community of Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State.
Uba said that the highly sought-after white-collar jobs were no longer readily available, hence the need for the acquisition of skills to become self-reliant.
According to her, the service year has presented corps members the opportunity to acquire skills and engage in various entrepreneurship training needed to address the challenge of unemployment after their service year.
Uba, who was represented by Mrs. Ada Imoni, the Gombe State Coordinator of the scheme, said the scheme's decision to initiate the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) program was to empower youths to provide themselves with employment.
"I will like to remind you that white-collar jobs are not readily available."
"Therefore, I encourage you to avail yourselves of the opportunities for self-employment offered through the skills acquisition program."
"You are expected to choose from any of the skill areas and make yourselves available for the training, which starts at the orientation camp," she said.
The acting D-G said the SAED program also provided the youth corps members with the opportunity to realize their potential and attain individual feats during and after the service year.
She assured that the management would continue to work with relevant stakeholders for the success of the SAED program.
Uba also advised the newly sworn-in corps members to be security conscious, while reporting any suspicious characters or activities around them to the appropriate authorities.
Supreme reports that 741 Batch "C" Stream II corps members, comprising 404 males and 337 females, were sworn in for their orientation course in Gombe State.