The Oyo State Government said it has concluded plans with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, to train corps members serving in the state on agricultural entrepreneurship.
The state’s Commissioner for Youth and Sports, Mr Yomi Oke, made this known on Thursday in Ibadan at the 2016 Oyo State National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) competition/exhibition.
He said that the training was intended to bring the best in the participants not only for people that specialised in agriculture, but also for people in other fields.
“The details will be discussed with the NYSC authority in due course,” Oke said.
The commissioner urged the corps members to embrace the remedial strategies put in place by the NYSC, which was dedicated to post-service and self-employment programmes for members.
“Skill acquisition is the right platform to develop this nation, so you should grab the opportunity now,” Oke advised them.
Also speaking, the NYSC state coordinator, Mrs Oluwafunmilayo Akin-Moses, said that the SAED programme was conceived by the NYSC management in 2012 to reduce the level of unemployment.
Akin-Moses said that the programme was to equip corps members with different skills to enable them to be self-employed after the service year.
She said that NYSC had collaborated with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Bank of Industry, Heritage Bank, among others to help in the development of corps members to achieve their goals.
“Make sure you participate actively and make good use of the opportunity, don’t rest on your oars, explore the NYSC funding option,” she advised.
Earlier, the SAED Assistant Director, Mrs Olubukola Abiodun, said that the programme was the second one organised by NYSC in the state.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the various skills include: fashion and designing, barbing, shoe making, make-up, catering, and customisation.