Corps Members with the entrepreneurial mindset
who have also undergone the SAED training in the NYSC camp will soon have a
cause to rejoice as the Director General of the National Youth Service Corps
(NYSC) Brig.-Gen. Johnson Bamidele Olawumi has made it known that The
National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) had secured over N200 million bank facility
for disbursement to corps members as loans to enable them start their businesses.
He made this known when the Commander, Guards
Brigade, Nigerian Army, Brig.-Gen. Musa Yusuf, paid him a courtesy call in the
NYSC Headquarters in Abuja on Friday.
“That has been a challenge;" he said, "we train
these corps members in the camp after the camp we have partners all over the
country where corps members also receive training throughout the service year.
According to Olawumi, the National Youth Service Corps has so far
trained over 400,000 corps members since the commencement of its skills
acquisition programme in over twelve (12) different skills.
He said that the NYSC, under the sponsorship of the World Bank, is
currently partnering with an international organisation to train corps members
who are interested in going into the building and property development sector.
“Now, the issue is that when they get this training they don’t
have start-up capital but we have been doing a lot to see there is opportunity
for them to get startup capital. We have the NYSC foundation as we speak, the
NYSC foundation has just approved loan worth N10 million for corps members and Corps members based on the business plan they submit
could get as much as N250, 000 and N400, 000”.
The Director-General said that they have
also signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Bank of Industry though it is
yet to take off but are working on it. He also made it clear that an agreement
has been reached with the Heritage Bank to set aside a budget of N200 million
package where Corps Members can have access to soft loans with their discharge certificate as the only
collateral they need.
Further more on the issue, he said, “ We are also
talking with Central Bank Governor to see that a micro credit loan could be
arranged specially to address corps members in this category.”
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