The coordinator of National Youth Service Corps in Kwara State, Ezinne Ngozi Ezekwe, has said that the Skill Acquisition and Entrepreneurship Development (SAED) programme of the scheme is aimed at promoting culture of self-reliance and entrepreneurship for job creation among corps members.

Speaking during the 2012 Batch 'C' skill acquisition and entrepreneurship development lectures/practicals at the NYSC orientation camp, Yikpata, Edu Local Government Area of Kwara State recently, Ezekwe, said the rate of unemployment among Nigerian graduates had increased tremendously in recent years.

The NYSC coordinator, who said there was need to create jobs instead of being job seekers, added that the scheme deemed it necessary to address the issue of unemployment through the introduction of SAED programme during the service year.

She said corps members would be introduced to 10 different skills during and after the orientation course, namely agro-allied businesses, construction, cosmetology, food processing, ICT, education, beautification,power and energy, culture and tourism and environment.

Ezekwe appealed to corps members to use the opportunity inherent in the programme to enable them get maximum benefit from the programme.

"The white collar job is no more available, learn a skill today and be a master tomorrow. Start in a little way and aim higher. Become an employer of labour and not employee. Be a job maker and not a job seeker. The Nigeria you know yesterday is not the one you are living in today. Endure the pain of creativity today and live on it tomorrow. Think of what Nigerians can gain from you and not what you can from her. As a youth of this nation, a leader tomorrow, get to lead by creativity and not by crudity. Create wealth by your skills, talents, creativeness and potentials. The skill is in you," she said.

The curriculum for the NYSC skill acquisition programme include writing a bankable business idea, drafting of a marketable strategy and plan, financial planning, types and sources of start-up capital among others.