Entrepreneurship: NYSC/BOI spend N2bn on 1, 000 corps members

By John Oba
Abuja
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) and the Bank of Industry (BoI) under its Graduate Entrepreneurship Fund have set aside N2 billion to finance 1, 000 corps members’ business proposals after building their capacities in businesses interest of their choice.
The director-general, Brigadier-General John Olawumi, stated this yesterday while declaring the NYSC/SDGs War Against Poverty (WAP) training programme for corps members open at the orientation camp, Kubwa, Abuja.

Olawumi, who was represented by the director, Human Resources Management (HRM), Mrs Rhoda Kwaki, said the WAP intervention “covers entrepreneurship and agro-enterprise training in poultry, animal husbandry, bee-keeping, agriculture, snailery, grass-cutter rearing and plantain sucker multiplication.”
He said the programme was a tool to generate employment, “raise the living standard and reduce the incidence of diseases associated with poverty in the rural areas with corps members as foot soldiers in the implementation strategy.”

“The programme which was kick-started in 2009 has so far trained 4,273 corps members and has empowered 3,706 of them with interest free loans between N200, 000 and N300, 000 to establish their ventures,” he said.
In a welcome address, the director, Community Development Service and Special Projects, Mrs Bosede Okakwu, said a total of 400 Batch ‘A’ 2015 corps members were invited to attend this year’s edition.
She said: “Let me equally use this medium to remind you that your character and value system will highly be put to test during this training and afterwards. It is only a good value system that can take you to the altitude of your dreams of greatness. You are expected to be committed to the goal of the WAP programme, which is meant to give you more advantage as you add to your skills.”