The National Youth Service Corps has expressed interest in accessing technical support of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI) in the area of entrepreneurial skill up scaling for Corps members.
The Director-General, Major General Shuaibu Ibrahim, made this known on Thursday when he paid a courtesy visit to the agency.
Ibrahim, who commended the Management and Staff of NASENI for what he described as their wonderful job, noted that lots of opportunities would be available for Corps members from the Agency’s activities.
He averred that Nigerian youths were innovative adding that if provided with the enabling environment, their enormous potentials could be harnessed for accelerated development of the country.
The Director-General recalled the contributions of Corps members to the overall national efforts to contain the COVID-19 pandemic through the production and distribution of face masks, hand sanitizers, and liquid soap as well as fabrication of items and devices such as sanitizers, dispensers, disinfection chamber, and body temperature checker.
He said the NYSC Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development programme was introduced to empower Corps members for self-employment and wealth creation, adding that many ex-trainees of the programme had established their own businesses and provided jobs for members of their host communities.
Ibrahim thanked the NASENI Management for the opportunities given to Corps members serving in the Agency and went on to propose a partnership under which more Corps members would be posted with the view of advancing their skills.
Earlier in a welcome address, the Executive Vice-Chairman and Chief Executive of NASENI Professor Mohammed Sani Haruna said the agency’s mandate was in the area of capital goods research, production and reverse engineering, adding that it had made interventions in various sectors.
Haruna explained that the agency operates through several mono-mandate institutes located in different parts of the country.
The Executive Vice-Chairman listed various products made locally by the agency including solar panels, small hydro-power turbines, smart prepaid meter, power transformer, motorcycle, cargo tricycle, ultra-light helicopter, unmanned aerial vehicle and agricultural processing machines, amongst others.
He remarked that President Muhammadu Buhari had repositioned the organization for better service delivery.
During the visit, the Director-General was taken on a guided tour of facilities at the agency.