From Corpers To Employers, Trainers, The Jigawa Story

 

THE Skills Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme, introduced in the National Youths Service Corps (NYSC), to giving practical training to corps members, arming them with at least one skill with which to earn a living or serve as a buffer for additional income after passing out, is yielding fruits.
Fronting packages that absorb outstanding corps members after their service year, government has created an environment for entrepreneurship to thrive.
But the question of the impact of such an initiative persists. In particular, some wonder why the need to train graduates on skills such as tailoring, baking, shoemaking, cosmetology and paint making, when most of them are primed for white-collar jobs. The one-week duration of the training also calls it’s effectiveness to question.
Tales of gloom about the scheme do not deter Jigawa State, as a handful of ex-corps members are practically rewriting the story of the state with a magic stroke of entrepreneurship, skills training and uncanny patriotism.
Paint-making
Baba Daniels is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Leadwill Paints and Painters, a company he set up after his service year and which has kept him glued to the state months after obtaining his discharge letter. He is a Batch A, 2014 corps member, but is now a resource person with the NYSC in the state, after winning an award for outstanding performance in his Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) and representing the state at the regional finals of the NYSC/CBN business plan writing competition. He makes paints locally and sells, and gets contracts for which he employs people to execute.
He said, “I served in Jigawa State and, before then, had no idea what the state looked like. I came for the orientation course and I thank God for what I have learnt so far.”
He said he now survives on skills acquired during the orientation programme and has gone ahead to train others. The scheme, he noted, has made him self-reliant, adding that fending for himself after the service year has been a great relief for himself and his family back in Kaduna.
According to him, “I am presently a resource person with the NYSC in Jigawa State. I learnt some skills in camp and they are what I survive on. I go about training other persons. I was privileged in Jigawa State to represent the NYSC/CBN venture in Katsina State in December 2014. I learnt other skills and met other corps members in other states.”
He attributed the lackluster attitude of Nigerians to the scheme to lack of patriotism on the one hand, and the spate of insecurity in some parts of Northern Nigeria, insisting that the best a citizen could do was to devote a part of his/her life to the service of fatherland.
He noted that the erroneous notion that keep Nigerians suspicious of themselves could only be tackled by a scheme as rigorous as NYSC, calling on Nigerians to be liberal with their views of the scheme.
“I know of fellow ex-corpers, who served with me, that have not gotten jobs. In fact, I can’t take a job that would pay me N100, 000, when I can be a CEO and make more and have time for myself. The idea of entrepreneurship is a plus to the scheme to assist corps members. After I left the scheme, I have not applied anywhere for a job. Even if I am to look for a job, the salary must be more than what I earn as a CEO.
“Most corps members do not take the entrepreneurship programme of the scheme seriously. Some might regret. I know of corps members who have not gotten jobs years after service. But it is what has made me who I am today. I can feed three more mouths, and to crown it all, I am thinking of getting married next year.
“I am happy and fulfilled that people are learning from me; it’s fun. And I am getting paid for it. I am a contractor right now, because of what I learnt in camp. If I leave this job, there is a high probability that I would get another contract. I appeal to corps members to learn a skill, at least. They should build on the knowledge gained. The idea that arts and crafts are for illiterates is wrong. The input of graduates in these skill areas is worth millions in value. That’s why they are needed more.”
Leather works
Another ex-corps member in the state, Moses Ubama, a Mathematics and Computer Science graduate, won the state award for outstanding performance during the 2014 service year. He said the scheme affected him positively, that it’s been extremely beneficial.
He runs a shoemaking company that specialises on innovative designs, with which he funds a masters degree programme he has initiated at the Bayero University, Kano and keeps body and soul together, as well as some savings.
The state government and NYSC also employed him to impact skills to indigenes of the state and corps members, respectively.
“During the course of my service, I applied all I learnt in camp judiciously. I learnt tailoring, shoemaking and leather works. At the end of my service year, I took the skills I learnt to about six prisons in the state and trained the inmates on how to make footwares. I also extended it to secondary schools, especially those people that are about to write West African Examination Council exams. Some of them might have to stay idle for a while or just quit schooling thereafter. I wanted them to gain some experience that they can put to use to raise some funds. I was happy doing that. I was honoured with a state award and given an automatic employment at the Ministry of Economic Empowerment and the Department of Skills Acquisition.
He said he was happy to be able to impact positively in the life of fellow Nigerians and has enjoyed every bit of the experience right from the camp to the end of the service in the state.
Art and Designs
Agada Joseph, another budding entrepreneur, was upbeat about his prospects since he was employed to teach art and design for the skills acquisition programme. He runs a small company that customises shirts with as little as a cup of red and green colours each and a brush, drawing designs that rival the mass produced brands. The Benue State-born fine artist said the opportunity to train others is a ladder to achieving his dream of being a lecturer.
He said: “People do not really want to travel out of their comfort zone. I came to Jigawa not knowing anyone, but now I am employed to educate others. It’s a great feeling knowing that you’re impacting the lives of others. And with the fact that I am training others on what I love doing, it’s even a more welcome development.”