Dare, who made the call on Monday in Mangu, near Jos, at the NYSC permanent Orientation Camp in the state, said that in spite of the fact that they were corps members they could still benefit from some of the youths initiatives introduced by the federal government.
He said this would serve as a means of bridging the technical and digital skills gap in the country.
He said that the corps members could benefit from the N75 million Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), adding that all that was required of them to benefit from the initiative was a Know Your Customer (KYC) viable business plan which would be rated, and the beneficiaries could get between N250,000 and N3 million, with which to start a business.
The minister also urged them to apply, and that if they did, their information should be channeled to their state coordinators, whom would in turn channel same to the NYSC’s headquarters in Abuja, for submission to the Ministry of Youths and Sports Development.
He promised that the corps members with good business plan would be given priority.
Similarly, he said, due to the digital skills gap in the country, the ministry had a Digital Skills Acquisition, Employability, Entrepreneurship Leadership initiative (DEEL initiative) as a means of bridging the gap.
Dare said that in the 21st century economy, educational qualification were not enough, pointing out that there was need for extra skills, be they technical or digital.
He said that the aim of the initiative was to provide 500,000 youths with digital skills in about 15 to 20 different areas such as robotics, and enjoined them to key into the DEEL initiative.
According to him, the NYSC represents the nation’s single largest concentration of youths in the country annually, and as such, the corps members should serve as foot soldiers of positive change, development and as youth ambassadors to help to disseminate the works of the government.
The minister thanked the NYSC Coordinator in Plateau, MS Caroline Embu, for the warm reception accorded him and his entourage at the orientation camp.
Earlier, Embu, who received the minister and his entourage, thanked him for the visit and described it as a morale booster for the corps members.
She said that since the arrival of the Batch B stream 1B corps members to to camp, they had adapted well and that none of them corps had developed any adverse health challenge.(NAN)