World Bank to partner NYSC on youth empowerment

The World Bank has announced its readiness to partner the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) on youth empowerment, job creation and skills development for corps members.

Lead Economist of the World Bank Youth Employment and Skills Development Team, Elena Glinskaya, disclosed this when she visited the NYSC National Directorate Headquarters in Maitama, Abuja.

The team leader of the World Bank group, who commended NYSC for introducing skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development into the programme, added that the vocational training that corps members were exposed to during orientation helped a large number of them to become self-reliant.

She stated that the team was also interested in learning from NYSC’s vast knowledge and experience in the area of youth empowerment.

“Anyone working on youth employment in Nigeria must learn about the NYSC programme. This is a well-established programme that has helped youths and we will like to know as much as possible about your programme,” she said.

Director General of NYSC, Brig-Gen. Yushau Ahmed, said the scheme was established for the promotion of national unity and integration.

According to Ahmed, NYSC has been at the forefront of empowering corps members with vocational skills at the Orientation Camp since 2012, which has made thousands of graduates self-reliant in different vocations across the country.

He informed the World Bank team that one of the foci of his five-point policy thrust is to advance the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme of the scheme.

Reiterating his administration’s strong determination to promote entrepreneurship and self-reliance among the corps members, he applauded the World Bank team for the assistance.