Nigeria’s youth empowerment drive is set to receive a major boost as the Enterprise Development Centre (EDC) of Pan-Atlantic University and the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) move to develop a digital platform aimed at equipping corps members with practical skills and entrepreneurship training.
The initiative followed a strategic meeting held at the EDC headquarters in Lekki, Lagos, where the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, met with the centre’s leadership to discuss a new collaboration focused on skill acquisition, enterprise development, and job creation.
The proposed platform is expected to provide corps members across the country with access to structured training modules, business tools, and entrepreneurship resources designed to prepare them for life after the service year. Officials from both organisations described the initiative as a potential game changer in addressing youth unemployment and improving economic productivity.
Speaking during the visit, General Nafiu said the NYSC’s Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme remains central to its mandate of preparing young Nigerians for the labour market.
According to him, the scheme has evolved over the years to respond to changing economic realities and the needs of a new generation of tech-savvy corps members.
“The skills acquisition and entrepreneurship development department of NYSC is equipped to tackle unemployment among Nigerian youths. That is the direction the scheme is headed because we are mindful of the high unemployment rate in the larger Nigerian employment space,” he said.
Nafiu explained that while formal education equips young people with academic knowledge, the government must also focus on ensuring that graduates become productive members of society through employment or entrepreneurship.
“It is part of our responsibility to tackle unemployment. It is one thing for parents and government to invest in education, and it is another to ensure that graduates are gainfully employed and contributing to society,” he added.
He noted that the NYSC has upgraded its entrepreneurship scheme to reflect modern realities, stressing that partnerships with credible institutions are necessary to achieve the programme’s objectives.
“We have taken our skills acquisition programme to another level. We know we cannot go the entire stretch alone, so we seek partners willing to collaborate with us. EDC is one of the foremost partners we need to restructure, remodel, and redefine the plans we have,” he said.
The NYSC boss further explained that the agency is adapting its programmes to suit the expectations of contemporary corps members, many of whom are digitally inclined.
“We are dealing with a new set of corps members who are tech-savvy and will not be ready to receive booklets like it was done previously. We must meet them where they are,” he said.
Also speaking at the meeting, the Programmes and Partnerships Director at EDC, Dr. Olawale Anifowose, said the collaboration would provide corps members with access to the centre’s Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) toolkit.
He explained that the toolkit would include business development resources, capacity-building materials, and practical guides to help young Nigerians either secure employment or start their own ventures.
“This marks a huge step toward properly defining what we can offer corps members. They will gain access to our SME toolkit, which provides all the resources they need as entrepreneurs in Nigeria,” he said.
“Whether they are going into paid employment or starting their own businesses, these resources will build their capacity and enable them to add value to the economy,” Anifowose added.
He also highlighted the long-standing relationship between EDC and NYSC, noting that both institutions had collaborated for nearly a decade on youth empowerment initiatives.
“In the last six months, that relationship has been strengthened further through high-level engagements. We are grateful to the Director-General for visiting our campus in Lekki, and we believe the partnership has reached a critical stage,” he said.
The Director of the SAED programme, Mr. Kehinde Aremu-Cole, said the NYSC had been driving the skill acquisition and entrepreneurship initiative since 2012. He explained that the programme initially focused more on technical skills but later expanded to include entrepreneurship training.
“For a long time, the emphasis was on skills alone. But we discovered that being skilled without an entrepreneurial mindset may still leave a person economically vulnerable,” he said.
He stressed that the programme was restructured to incorporate enterprise development across the entire value chain, ensuring that corps members could translate skills into viable businesses.
“We found EDC, with its resources and facilities, to be an excellent partner for curriculum development, guidance, and experience sharing. Since we started this relationship, EDC has been outstanding in providing modern and up-to-date training materials,” Aremu-Cole said.
Another EDC director, Dr. Nneka Okekearu, said the centre’s mission over the past two decades has been to deepen Nigeria’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, particularly among young people.
“EDC is 23 years old and counting. Our primary objective is to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem. When people hear entrepreneurship, they often think about small kiosks, but entrepreneurship is present in every sector of the economy,” she said.
Okekearu noted that the university’s leadership remains supportive of EDC’s youth-focused initiatives, which aim to nurture innovation and enterprise among young Nigerians.
The planned digital platform is expected to be unveiled in the near future, with both organisations working on the technical and operational framework. Once launched, the scheme is expected to reach thousands of corps members nationwide, providing them with access to modern training tools, mentorship opportunities, and practical business knowledge.
Industry observers say the collaboration could significantly enhance the impact of the NYSC’s entrepreneurship programme by integrating digital learning, structured mentorship, and real-time business resources.
If successfully implemented, the initiative may help bridge the gap between academic education and employment, while also encouraging more young Nigerians to pursue entrepreneurship as a viable career path.