The Minister of Youth, Ayodele Olawande, has announced the establishment of a Youth Academy to enable young people acquire skills and be more useful to society.
According to him, more than mandating the youths to the compulsory one year national service under the National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, the government is now looking at creating impact and making them viable for the job market.
The minister made the announcement during the 2025 annual management conference themed transforming the NYSC Scheme to meet the yearnings of the contemporary Nigerian graduates and society held in Abuja on Monday.
He said that President Bola Tinubu, “Will launch and inaugurate the Nigerian Youth Academy that is free. That is our own Nigerian Coursera. It is open. You don't need to know me before you go for any of this initiative.
“We have a dashboard already and we are going to make it open.
“The camp is going to be everywhere, and I'm very sure the Akwa Ibom people will make it open by the end of this month, and everywhere that we want to make it very open for the young people that the ministry belongs to us.
“Let us have a record of commendation, achievement in the areas of mentorship, education, act, agriculture, community development, not building a status of corps members in the community and say that's community development.
“Now let us focus on youth empowerment, entrepreneurship, acquisitions, and skills. Let us bring back our skills.”
The Minister further explained that hot lines have been made available through the Nigerian Communications Commission, NCC, for corps members to call for protection in case of emergency.
“We have NCC lines and all that that you can reach for your protection,” he said.
He also advised corps members to reach out to the ministry if they have issues with NYSC, adding, “We want to be the intermediary.”
He said that the government must find a way to proffer a solution and to address unemployment, mental health, and the re-engineering of young people not to follow trends but to do research.
