The Director General of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, has reaffirmed the Scheme’s pivotal role in addressing youth unemployment in Nigeria through entrepreneurship and skills development.
Nafiu made this known while addressing participants of Group 2 of the Senior Executive Course 48, 2026, of the National Institute of Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS), Kuru-Jos, who were on a study tour to the NYSC Directorate Headquarters. The tour focused on the theme: “Economic Diversification and National Development: Leveraging the Orange Economy and Entrepreneurship for Sustainable Growth in Nigeria.”
He disclosed that the NYSC had trained a total of 1,391,119 young graduates in various vocational skills between 2019 and 2025 under its Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme. According to him, the initiative, introduced in 2012, aligns with the Scheme’s mandate to promote self-reliance among Nigerian youths.
Nafiu noted that the vision of the NYSC founding fathers remains relevant today, stressing that the Scheme was designed to equip Corps members with entrepreneurial skills capable of making them self-sufficient and employers of labour in a country where white-collar jobs have become increasingly scarce.
He commended government agencies and partner organisations for supporting the SAED programme through technical assistance, funding, provision of soft loans, grants, and start-up kits to Corps entrepreneurs.
The NYSC DG also appealed to NIPSS to support advocacy for the establishment of the NYSC Trust Fund, stating that the Bill has already been passed by the National Assembly and is awaiting presidential assent.
“With the Trust Fund, we will be able to give every Corps member that passes through the SAED training adequate capital to start their business of interest at the end of the service year,” he said.
The visiting NIPSS delegation was also presented with a documentary showcasing success stories of beneficiaries of the SAED programme.
In his remarks, the Director General of NIPSS, Professor Ayo Omotayo, commended the NYSC for its contribution to reducing unemployment through youth empowerment initiatives. He explained that the study tour was designed to generate practical recommendations on tackling unemployment and boosting national development.
Omotayo added that NIPSS would include proposals to enhance the NYSC’s capacity to effectively deliver on its youth empowerment mandate in its final report to the Federal Government.
