NYSC Secures N200m Bank Loans for Corps Members

Fri, Aug 28, 2015
By publisher
4 MIN READ

Education

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Corps who acquires entrepreneurship skill and develop good business proposal can now have access to funding as the National Youth Service Corps secures bank loans to help their dreams come true

| By Anayo Ezugwu | Sep 7, 2015 @ 01:00 GMT |

IN its effort to reduce unemployment among Nigerian youths, the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, has secured more than N200 million bank loan which will be disbursed to corps members as loans to enable them start businesses. Johnson Olawumi, director-general, NYSC, stated this when Musa Yusuf, commander, Guards Brigade, Nigerian Army, paid a familiarisation visit to the NYSC headquarters in Abuja.

He said that supporting corps members financially had been a challenge to NYSC but with the loan, they could start their dream businesses, become independent and employ others. “That has been a challenge: we train these corps members in the camp and after the camp we have partners all over the country where corps members also receive training throughout the service year. Now, the issue is that when they get this training they don’t have start-up capital. But we have been doing a lot to see there is opportunity for them to get start-up capital. We have the NYSC foundation as we speak, the NYSC foundation has just approved a loan worth N10 million for corps members.

“Corps members based on the business plan they submit could get as much as N250, 000 and N400, 000. We have also signed MoU with Bank of Industry though it is yet to take off but we are working on it. A couple of months ago, I also approached Heritage Bank and Heritage Bank is setting aside the sum of N200 million under a package where corps members will get a soft loan and the only collateral they will have to drop will be their discharge certificate. “We are also talking with the governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to see if a micro credit loan could be arranged specially to address corps members in this category,” he said.

Olawumi debunked allegations that the NYSC was yet to provide skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development to corps members, adding that the exercise had been ongoing since 2012. According to him, the NYSC has so far trained more than 400,000 corps members since the commencement of its skills acquisition programme in more than different skills.

The NYSC, under the sponsorship of the World Bank, was currently partnering with an international organisation to train corps members interested in going into the building and property development sector. Olawumi also urged the Guards Brigade to continue to assist the NYSC by ensuring the safety of corps members serving in the Federal Capital Territory as well as those serving in other states.

The director-general also directed Mary Dan-Abia, director, skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development, NYSC, to commence partnership with the brigade’s skills acquisition centre in Keffi, Nassarawa State. Dan-Abia, had in an interview earlier this year, said the NYSC had trained 500,000 corps members through its skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development unit since 2012. “In November 2011, we got an approval from the head of service to establish more departments for the NYSC; one of them was the skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development department.

“On March 29, 2012, this department was inaugurated with the appointment of a director. Since then, the department had taken off. Brand new as it was, we came out with our vision and mission statements, objectives and goals as well. By the end of 2013, we had been able to train over 410, 000 corps members on skills acquisition and entrepreneurship. If I add the 2015 batch A, we will be looking at over 500, 000 corps members who have been exposed to the message of acquiring skills and becoming entrepreneurs,” she said.

On his part, Yusuf assured the NYSC that the brigade had made adequate security arrangements to ensure the safety of corps members serving in FCT. He said that part of the security arrangements put in place included regular patrolling of the FCT, adding that the safety of corps members was one of the priorities of the Guards Brigade. He also assured the NYSC boss that the brigade would continue to support and partner with the NYSC in the area of training of corps members and other related needs.

“I am here on behalf of the Guards Brigade, officers and their families to commend you on the collaboration and support we have received from the NYSC so far. I want to promise that this collaboration, support and understanding will be maintained. “If there is anything we need to improve on in terms of our relationship or training new corps members or any other area the Guards Brigade is here to support and assist,” Yusuf said.

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