On NYSC Trust Fund and Nigerian Youths, by Halimat Shittu

Bogged by the debilitating condition of Nigerian graduates, the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) thought outside the box and brought succor to Nigerian youths by introducing a Fund which will assist fresh graduates acquire skills, get some funding and at the end become self-reliant. The Fund was passed by the Nigerian Senate on June 21, 2022, awaiting a presidential accent. When accented, the Fund will be providing sustainable funds for Nigerian youths, because it is expected to be funded by 0.2 percent of total revenue accruing in the federation account and 1% of the net worth profit of private organization.

The current Director-General of the youth scheme, Brigadier General Muhammad Fadah, had advised Nigerian youths to embrace the initiative. Speaking at the NYSC Orientation Camp in Ikare-Akoko, Akoko North-East Local Government Area of Ondo State, stressed the need for Nigerian youths to be self-reliant. He said, “In the 1970s and early 1980s, the federal, state, and local governments will look for you to come and work for them. Now, that era is over. That is why the scheme established the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurial Development programmes for you. Please take advantage of this situation.

“Get a skill, you may not know when that skill will be useful to you. Please avail yourself. Just go and train yourself in a skill. The NYSC Trust Fund was passed yesterday (Tuesday) by the National Assembly. It is just left for the President to assent to it. When it becomes law, at the end of your service year, every one of you will have a token that you can use to establish your business,” he added.

Based on the foregoing, the cardinal objective of the fund is to encourage youths to acquire skills necessary to make money on their own through self-employment. The fund becomes accessible right from the time a graduate has been mobilized for the mandatory national youth service. The initiative is a brilliant one but I believe it could only be reasonable and sustainable if the fund could assist the youths with a reasonable start-off capital. It is a known fact that most of Nigerian youths are skilled, educated and has business ideas but their inability to access a start-up capital it’s discouraging.

If youths can have access to at least N1,000,000 from the trust fund, one can be able to establish oneself. Let’s take for instance, a female graduate who is also a fashion designer and wants to open a tailoring shop in Abuja, needs a minimum of N1million as a start-off capital. Even though the cost of renting a shop might take quarter of the money, she would still have to buy a machine which now costs around N120,000, manqué would also cost about 50,000 and she would also have to get other necessary tailoring materials for a proper take-off of the business. Although N1, 000,000 can never be enough considering the current Nigerian economy, it would serve as a great support to any enterprising youths. With this, many Nigerian graduates won’t have to sit at home or go around looking for white collar jobs which is scarcely available.

Although there is no readily available condition as the law was just passed by the Nigerian senate, the NYSC helmsman has clearly spelt out that the fund will only accessible to skilled corps members. I want to suggest that the fund should also be accessible to graduates, especially those already mobilized for the mandatory national service. In that, any graduate who wishes to access this fund would be motivated to acquire a skill before or during his service year.

By and large, the fund will help in providing the necessary resources needed for the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development (SAED) in the country. While the fund would help in developing the country by reducing the rate of unemployment, the fund will also be used as an instrument of fighting hunger, poverty and many more challenges facing the country. This is because a youth that has a successful business would automatically be able to provide for himself and, if chanced, might be capable of employing others.

I therefore advice President Buhari, to expedite action in accenting to this brilliant bill which would have a direct bearing on the lives of Nigerian youths. Posterity would also judge the president favorably for coming to their end when it matters most. I also want to urge the NYSC and the custodian of the Fund to be objective and transparent in disbursing the Fund, this should be done without fear and favor. Once this is guaranteed, Nigeria and its economy would regain its pride of place since the youths form the majority population of the country. A vibrant youth population will take away insecurity and other criminalities associated with the youths.

Halimat Shittu
[email protected]