NYSC adds AI, App development to revamped skill acquisition programme

The Director General of the NYSC, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu. Credit: NYSC

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The National Youth Service Corps is set  to overhaulits Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development training for corps members through the standardisation of its curriculum to achieve deeper impact.

In a post via its official X handle on Saturday, the NYSC said its Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, disclosed this in his address at the 2025 second SAED stakeholders’ summit held in Abuja on Friday.

Nafiu said the scheme had embarked on a comprehensive digital transformation of the SAED programme as a pathway to combating youth unemployment.

The NYSC boss noted that the new curriculum now includes skills such as artificial intelligence and mobile application development, among others.

He further disclosed that corps members were being mainstreamed into the Federal Government’s 3 Million Technical Talent (3MTT) programme, as well as global remote work opportunities through initiatives such as Outsource to Nigeria, NYSC Jobs.ng and the SAED SME Toolkit.

Describing SAED as a pillar of youth empowerment in Nigeria, Nafiu said more than 3.18 million corps members had completed entrepreneurship and workplace readiness training since 2012, with over 30,000 businesses formally registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC).

“They are employing others and contributing to the Gross Domestic Product, while demonstrating that our youths are capable change agents,” he added.

The DG stressed the need to focus more on competence, mastery of SAED skills and digital fluency among corps members to make them highly competitive in a rapidly changing world.

He described the recently launched ₦2 billion MSME loan fund for corps entrepreneurs, established in partnership with the Bank of Industry (BoI), as a landmark achievement in the drive for entrepreneurship development.

Nafiu also hailed the founding fathers of the NYSC for their foresight in anticipating and laying the foundation for entrepreneurial training, as captured in one of the objectives of the scheme.

“The unemployment rate in 1973 was put at 1.9 per cent, but today it is about 6.9 per cent. Nigeria has many young people who lack employability skills.

“We thank our partners and stakeholders in the SAED programme for collaborating with the NYSC to mitigate the scourge of youth unemployment in Nigeria.

“We must remain committed to empowering a generation whose innovation and enterprise will shape the country’s future prosperity.

“Equipping our young people is not just a programme; it is a national assignment, and the NYSC is fully committed to it,” he said.

He urged participants at the meeting to renew strategies for equipping corps members with the necessary skills, creativity and confidence to thrive in the contemporary world.

Earlier, the Director of SAED, Mr Kehinde Aremu-Cole, expressed gratitude to stakeholders at the summit for driving transformation across multiple sectors, including technology and digital skills, creative industries, entrepreneurship development, financial empowerment and agricultural revitalisation.

Aremu-Cole described as laudable the trainings, grants and mentorship sessions previously delivered, noting that they were shaping Nigeria’s future through corps members.

He called on stakeholders to create special-purpose funding pathways that would turn desire and skills into productive enterprises.

“Together, we are not just running a programme; we are building a generation.

“Let us keep empowering, and let us keep believing in the potential of our young people,” he said.

Olugbenga is a fine-grained journalist with over nine years of experience. He loves the smell of a good lead and has a penchant for finding out interesting good reports.

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