The federal government yesterday announced plans to introduce an internship programme in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to enhance practical skills and employability of youths and bridge the gap between academic learning and real-world work experience.
This was made known by the minister of state for youth development, Ayodele Olawande, at the launch of a $50 billion fundraising programme for the building of a World Youth Peace Centre organised by the West African Youth Peace Mission (WAYPEM) in Abuja.
The internship programme, according to him, will be integrated into the existing NYSC structure to provide corps members hands-on experience in various industries and empower them with relevant skills for the modern workforce.
The minister who was represented by his chief-of-staff, Mohammed Abdullahi, said the rationale behind the idea was for graduates of professional courses to be sent to where their professional skills would be enhanced during their service year.
He said this would give them an edge in the labour market after their service year.
He also announced that in the next couple of weeks, the ministry would be inaugurating the technical committee on youth development which would focus on skills development for Nigerian youths.
He added that one of the initiatives they would be working on was “One Youth, Two Skills”, which would be delivered in the first quarter of next year.
He also stated that the NYSC scheme would be redesigned by the second quarter of next year to focus on delivering skills as well.
According to the minister, the current Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development Programme (SAED) in the NYSC was not delivering the desired results, as not everybody was cut out to be an entrepreneur.
WAYPEM president, Dr Godswill Richman said the building of the peace centre in Abuja would create over 40,000 local jobs for the youth as part of the mission move to address the “Japa Syndrome”.
According to Richman, the commercial complex of the centre will house modern specialist university, banking hall, an event center, multi-purpose training facilities for youths and women, administrative offices, and staff quarters.
