By Edwin Philip
National Youth Service Corps, (NYSC) said plans on the way to introduced Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and agricultural development programs into their skills acquisition and entrepreneurship department (SEAD) as means of empowering them with skills for self reliant.
This was revealed by Mr. Aremu Kehide, the Director Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Department of the NYSC, shortly after a meeting with a team from Silicone Valley Nigeria Energy Development SV -NED, at the NYSC national headquarters in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
“It is the first in the series of our meetings that we will be organising between the NYSC and SV NED, one of a major partners in youth empowerment initiatives we started a relationship with SV- NED in the fourth quarter of 2024 and we have held this meeting as a part way to the implementation of the various programs of we have lined up for the empowerment of Corps members starting from the 2025 mobilization season” he said.
According to Kehinde, who is also the chairman implementation committee NYSC/SV-NED partnership, said several opportunities for collaborations was discussed but the NYSC is interested in the CNG and the agriculture development projects and a committee is set to inspect the over 500 hundred hecters of land release by the governor of Niger State, Mohammed Umar Bago, for development of Rice as the pilot spheres of the projects and other States will key in with crops that they have competitive advantage over.
He added that the NYSC is open to harnessing every opportunity that will benefit corps members, as they Corps members are their focus, stating that the Director General of the Corps, General WB Ahmed is particular about Corps members and their empowerment, as training is not enough until they are employers of labour and business owners at the end of the day.
“We expect that the collaboration with SV NED, will translate to a much more large numbers of Corps members being self sufficient when they will be leaving the NYSC and not going to be looking for paid employment after leaving us”.
The Director of SAED however appeal to Nigerians leaving in diaspora to emulate the gestures of Silicone Valley Nigeria Energy Development, that are giving back to the people at home, saying that the biggest empowerment they can do is to invest in the Nigerian youth, their empowerment and tomorrow.
Speaking earlier, HRH Queen Mother Amb Amina Temitope Labinjo Ajayi JP Mama Diaspora, Chairman Silicon Valley Nigeria Economic Development SV-NED INC USA/SV-NED ENERGY LTD, said they are using Nano technology for agricultural production majoring on rice production, with three months growing period and one month harvesting time, according to her, an off taker deal have been entered with have a rice meal to buy off everything that is produced.
“This is the kind of exposure I want to introduce to my graduates, it is not what they are used to, it powered by information technology, I struck a deal with Imota rice,they have sixteen silos under utilized, I equally have my rice called Mama diaspora jasmine rice” she said.
She added that the rice cultivation will be all year round, with no need for irrigation as water will sourced from moist from the atmosphere condensed and then and put to use, adding that SV -NED have contacted leading technological companies such as Hp, Microsoft, Google, Oracle, Intel and IBM as partners using the nano technologies.
Speaking on CNG components of programmes, she said that they are buying into the renewed hope agenda of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in the energy sector, by ensuring that cheaper energy is made available for Nigerians to travel, thanking the president for towing the paths of economic prosperity for Nigerians.
She added that, when the corps members are trained in various aspects of the CNG, they will be posted to work in CNG oriented companies across the country and will also be exposed to foreign training with robust incentives.
