Delta State Governor Ifeanyi Okowa on Wednesday said equipping graduates with practical skills acquisition during the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC) year would reduce the number of graduates seeking for the few or non-available civil service jobs.
BusinessDay reports that the governor made the remark in Asaba when the director-general of the NYSC, Johnson Olawumi, a brigadier-general, led officials of the scheme to pay him a courtesy visit.
Okowa, who lauded the objectives behind setting up the scheme, noted that equipping graduates with practical skills during the service year would be added advantage as it would reduce the number of graduates seeking for the few or non-available civil service jobs.
“I hope that we will encourage our graduates to acquire skills while they are in camp to enable them to be engaged in agriculture and other self-sustaining skills, because, the white collar jobs are not easily available.
“We must find a way of re-orientating them within the service year to begin to think about what they can do with their hands and with their brains. I hope that the various governments too will create the enabling environment for them to acquire skills to be able to find some form of funding to be able to start up their own businesses in the future.
“I believe the NYSC has been a success story in this nation despite the challenges that we have,” the governor said, reiterating, “it is one scheme that has brought unity, enabled our youths to be exposed to various states in the nation and has served as a stabilising tool for our nation.”
The governor, who also commended the management of the scheme for choosing Asaba as the venue for their 2016 ‘annual management/stakeholders’ meeting, however, called for stocktaking for subsequent programme.
He however assured of his administration’s commitment to assisting the NYSC to succeed in the state.
Earlier, the NYSC director-general informed the governor that they were in the state for their annual management conference, which brings together top officials of the scheme with all stakeholders, to discuss the journey so far and how to ensure better performances.
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