The Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University and the National Youth Service Corps are set to design a digital platform aimed at equipping corps members with practical skills and entrepreneurship education.
The plan followed a visit by the Director-General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Nafiu, to the EDC headquarters in Lekki, Lagos. During the visit, both institutions agreed to deepen collaboration in the area of youth empowerment and capacity development.
Under the proposed initiative, corps members will gain access to structured digital learning tools and entrepreneurial resources designed to meet the demands of Nigeria’s evolving labour market. The platform is expected to provide practical knowledge that aligns with current industry needs and the realities facing young graduates.
Nafiu said the NYSC’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development department had already positioned itself to address youth unemployment across the country. He stated that the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development department of the NYSC is equipped to tackle youth unemployment in the country.
“That is the direction the scheme is headed because we are mindful of the high unemployment rate in the larger Nigerian employment space,” the NYSC DG noted.
He stressed that the renewed focus aligns with the core mandate of the NYSC, which is to ensure that graduates become productive after completing formal education.
“It is part of our mandate and responsibility to tackle unemployment. It is one thing for parents and the government to put resources together, subsidise education, and get children through the formal education sector, and it is another for the government to be concerned about getting them gainfully employed and productive in the larger society,” Nafiu said.
According to him, the NYSC has reviewed its strategy and is actively seeking strong partners to restructure and redefine its programme. He explained that collaboration is necessary to expand the impact of the scheme.
“As part of our own contribution to this, we have taken our skills, acquisition, and entrepreneurship development programme to another level because we are aware that we can’t go the entire stretch alone; we look for partners that are willing to collaborate with us, and I think EDC is one of the foremost partners we need to bring on to restructure, remodel, and redefine the plans we have,” Nafiu added.
He further noted that the NYSC intends to leverage technology to meet the expectations of a new generation of graduates.
“We are conscious of the environment, and we are dealing with a new set of corps members who are tech-savvy and won’t be ready to receive booklets just like it was done previously,” he said.
Expressing optimism about the collaboration, Nafiu added, “I am excited about the partnership that we’ve been able to make over these years, and the direction we are headed on this scheme is particularly laudable because our corps members will gain access to the proper skill-learning technique to match the current entrepreneurship requirements.”
The Programmes and Partnerships Director at EDC, Dr Olawale Anifowose, said the partnership would provide corps members with access to the centre’s SME toolkit and other entrepreneurial resources.
“This visit today marks a huge step towards properly defining the offering which we have for corps members, which is access to our SME toolkit that will offer them all of the resources that they need as entrepreneurs in Nigeria,” Anifowose remarked.
He added that the resources would benefit corps members regardless of their career path.
“Whether they’re going into paid employment or they’re going to start the journey of entrepreneurship themselves. All of the resources will build their capacity to enable them to add value as young Nigerians,” he said.
Speaking on the existing collaboration between both institutions, Anifowose noted that the relationship has lasted nearly a decade.
“We’ve had an extensive relationship with NYSC for almost 10 years now. In the last 6 months, that relationship has been cemented with my own visit to the NYSC headquarters twice this year. So, I want to say thank you personally to the DG of NYSC for flying all the way from Abuja and coming to our campus in Lekki, and the relationship has reached a critical point,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Director of the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme, Kehinde Aremu-Cole, said the scheme has evolved significantly since it was launched in 2012.
“For a long time, a lot of focus was on the skill acquisition, the skilled part of it. But after operationalising the project for some time, some of us found out that it is not just enough to be skilled. A skilled person without the entrepreneurial mindset will still be a poor person. And the much-desired contribution to GDP will not be achieved,” Aremu-Cole said.
He explained that this realization led to a rethink of the programme.
“There had to be a rethinking of the project to emphasise not just skills but entrepreneurship development and all the value chain it entails,” he added.
Aremu-Cole also noted that the partnership with EDC has strengthened curriculum development and manpower capacity within the scheme.
“We found the EDC, with all its resources and with all its facilities, a very good place to run to for curriculum development, for guidance, and for experience sharing. Since we started that relationship, the EDC has been awesome. Not just in allowing us the use of modern, up-to-date curriculum but also in the development of the manpower,” he said.
Additionally, a Director at EDC, Dr Nneka Okekearu, said the university leadership strongly supports youth-focused entrepreneurship development.
“We’re excited about the engagement. The university itself is actually exciting. And the chancellor and the vice chancellor, anytime they are talking about what EDC does. Their joy comes specifically because we are focusing on younger people,” Okekearu said.
She added that the centre, which has operated for 23 years, was established to deepen Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
“Most times, when people hear entrepreneurship, they think about the person who has a kiosk on the corner. But we know that entrepreneurship is everywhere,” Okekearu said.
