NYSC, Gombe Varsity Sign MoU On Youth Skill Acquisition

The National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Gombe State University on skill acquisition.

The signing took place on Wednesday at the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) Centre in the Lafiyawo community of Akko Local Government Area of Gombe State, included youth entrepreneurship training.

Brig. Gen. Mohammed Fadah, the Director-General of NYSC, explained that the need for youth vocational training has become essential to deal with other challenges.

Fadah said that the event illustrated the scheme’s commitment to empowering the youth to become wealth creators, employers of labour, and self-sufficient.

“It is also in line with one of the cardinal points of our policy thrust, which is to improve the gains of the NYSC ventures and the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme,” he said.

Ahmed Ibrahim, Director of Legal Services, NYSC Directorate Headquarters, who represented Fadah, said the collective efforts of stakeholders are needed to challenge unemployment in the nation. 

He clarified that the specialised training was organised to drive youths’ mindset to engage in entrepreneurial activities rather than pursue white-collar jobs to increase their chances of contributing to the nation’s economic development.

According to him, the programme will help deter the youth from engaging in criminal activities and other social vices.

Fadah said the alliance with Gombe State University was encouraged by the desire to optimise the advantages of the NYSC SAED Centre.

“Apart from the corps members for whom the centre was originally conceived, this partnership will enable us to accommodate the training of students of the university and other youths of the host community,” Fadah said.

Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor of GSU, Prof Aliyu El-Nafaty, said the university would help organise the training in a formal setting with certification issued to participants.

The centre which has a capacity for 300 trainees, has facilities for different skills and male and female hostels for accommodation for the trainees.