The Director-General, National Youth Service Corps, Brig Gen Shuaibu Ibrahim has on Tuesday, 30th November, 2021, commissioned a Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Centre at the NYSC Permanent Orientation camp, Sagamu Ogun State.
The centre, which was constructed by the Office of the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, SDGs, was in line with the objectives of the SDGs of providing skills for the teaming populace.
During the ceremony, the Director-General thanked the SSA to the President for the kind gesture and assured that the facility will be judiciously utilized by the scheme. He revealed that since inception in 1973, the NYSC has been one of the dynamic organizations in the country hence its introduction of the Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Department in 2012, which is saddled with the responsibility of providing skills and entrepreneurship training for corps members. He said that the whole idea was to make the Corps members self-employed, in response to the dwindling opportunities for graduate employment.
The Director- General also said that since the introduction of SAED the NYSC has made tremendous progress in the training and empowerment of thousands of the youth corps member, adding that one of the success of the programme was the facilitation of the building of SAED centre in Ekiti, Jigawa, Gombe and Nasarawa states.
While conducting the dignitaries round the facility, the Senior Special Assistnant to the President on Sustainable Development Goals, Princes Adejoke, Orelop-Adefulire said that the Centre was built in line with a request from the NYSC and the desire of the Federal Government to achieve the sustainable development goals. She noted that the idea of the establishment of the Centre was to provide opportunities for the training of Corps members in various skills, which she said, were in high demands in the market, especially the building industry.
In his remarks, the Ogun State Governor, who was represented at the commissioning ceremony by his deputy Eng. Noimot Salako Oyedele commended the SSA to the president on SDGs for the construction of the edifice. She also extolled the National Youth Service Corps for its invaluable contributions to nation building over the years, and commended its current Director-General for his zeal in moving the scheme forward, since assumption of duty.
The NYSC Skills Acquisition Centre Sagamu, Ogun State has facilities for training in Automobile, Block moulding, Information and Communication Technology, ICT, Tailoring and Fashion design, Film and Photography among others, with fully built, state-of-the art structure for the training of the Corps members.
Among dignitaries at the commissioning ceremony were the Ogun State Commissioner for Youth and Sports Development, Dr Osho Kehinde Oluwadare, His Royal Majesty Oba Babatunde Adewale Ajayi, the Akarigbo and Paramount Ruler of Remo Kingdom, Honourable Kunle Soname, Chairman, Bet 9ja, Principal, Federal Government Girls’ College Sagamu, among others.