Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has urged National Youth Service Corps members posted to the state to embrace entrepreneurship instead of relying on scarce white-collar jobs after completing their national service.\n<\/p>\n
Eno said acquiring entrepreneurial skills would better position young graduates to become employers of labour and achieve financial independence.\n<\/p>\n
The governor made the call on Tuesday while declaring open the 2026 NYSC Corps Employers\u2019 Workshop in Uyo, themed \u201cFine-Tuning Stakeholders\u2019 Collaboration to Enhance Corps Members\u2019 Welfare Experience.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
He was represented by the Commissioner for Youth Development, Dr Ekerette Ekanem.<\/p>\n
He encouraged corps members to take advantage of the NYSC Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme, noting that Nigeria\u2019s growing population and limited resources make self-employment increasingly important.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cToday, being an employer of labour, an entrepreneur pays better than a white collar job. Corps members must thrive to become employers of labour rather than job seekers.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are in a society where the population keeps increasing while we have limited resources, so I strongly commend the SAED scheme of the NYSC which is aimed at making our young people become employers and independent rather than job seekers,\u201d Eno said.<\/p>\n
The governor also commended corps members serving in Akwa Ibom for their dedication and contributions to the state\u2019s development, urging employers and stakeholders to strengthen collaboration to improve their service experience.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me specifically commend the corps members posted to Akwa Ibom State for their commitment, loyalty and dedication to service. Yesterday, a Corps Member who served at the Comprehensive Secondary School, Okobo, received the State Award for Excellence. <\/p>\n
\u201cLet this serve as encouragement to all corps members serving in Akwa Ibom and across Nigeria,\u201d he said.\n<\/p>\n
In his keynote address, the Director-General of the NYSC, Brig.-Gen. Olakunle Nafiu, described corps employers as critical partners in the success of the scheme.\n<\/p>\n
Nafiu , represented by the Director of NYSC South-South Area Office II, Mr Godfrey Nwaje, urged employers to provide corps members with supportive work environments, quality mentorship and adequate welfare.\n<\/p>\n
He also reminded employers of their responsibilities, including providing accommodation or accommodation allowance, transport support, healthcare, security and opportunities for corps members to participate in Community Development Service and other official NYSC activities.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWe must continue to foster workplaces that are respectful, supportive and free from all forms of discrimination, exploitation, harassment and abuse,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nafiu expressed optimism that the workshop would generate practical recommendations to strengthen partnerships and enhance the welfare of corps members across the country.\n<\/p>\n
Earlier, the Akwa Ibom State NYSC Coordinator, Mrs Ngozi Akuagbaogu, said the annual workshop was organised to strengthen collaboration between the scheme, corps employers and other stakeholders while addressing emerging issues affecting corps administration.\n<\/p>\n
She added that the forum would provide an opportunity to assess existing efforts, identify challenges and develop strategies to improve the welfare, productivity and overall service experience of corps members.\n<\/p>\n
The NYSC\u2019s SAED programme was introduced to equip corps members with vocational and business skills, encouraging self-employment amid rising unemployment and the limited availability of white-collar jobs in Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Akwa Ibom State Governor, Umo Eno, has urged National Youth Service Corps members posted to the state to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":936458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[377310,64,607,39856,377311,377312,377313,104782,262833,377314,67,132,68,44700],"class_list":["post-936457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entrepreneurship","tag-akwa-ibom","tag-business","tag-entrepreneurship","tag-job-creation","tag-nigeria-youth","tag-nysc","tag-saed","tag-self-employment","tag-skills-acquisition","tag-umo-eno","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us","tag-youth-empowerment"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116923804336072421","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}