The Federal Government has announced plans to train 300 National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members as certified Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) technicians.
The initiative will see trained corps members deployed to CNG conversion centres nationwide, creating job opportunities while supporting Nigeria’s transition to cleaner and more affordable energy.
Minister of Youth Development, Comrade Ayodele Olawande, disclosed this at the opening ceremony of the CNG Retrofitting Training Programme for Corps Members at the NYSC FCT Orientation Camp in Kubwa, Abuja. Olawande explained that the initiative would expand entrepreneurship opportunities for corps members beyond their service year. He urged the beneficiaries to maximise the training and use acquired technical skills to complement their academic qualifications.
Speaking during the ceremony, Senior Special Assistant to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Youth Initiatives, Monitoring and Delivery, Dr Titilope Gbadamosi, stressed that the programme would cover the six geopolitical zones and aimed at supporting the retrofitting of 100,000 vehicles annually.
She disclosed that the programme would certify the 300 trained corps members as technicians and deploy them to different CNG centres across the country. Titilope also announced that each beneficiary would receive a monthly stipend of ₦100,000 while gaining practical skills and work experience.
However, The NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, described the initiative as a demonstration of inter-agency collaboration and the Scheme’s support for the Renewed Hope Agenda. He said NYSC had trained more than three million corps members in various skills since 2012.
He added that the CNG programme would help bridge the gap between classroom learning and real-world applications while supporting Nigeria’s energy transition.
The Chairman of the Presidential Initiative on CNG and Electric Vehicles, Barrister Ismaeel Ahmed, said the CNG industry was creating new opportunities. National Automotive Design And Development Council, NADDC, Director General, Otunba Oluwemimo Joseph Osanipin, described the programme as a practical step towards placing Nigerian youths at the centre of national development.
Notably, the initiative combines youth empowerment, technical skills development, job creation and CNG adoption, while supporting the government’s annual target of converting 100,000 vehicles to CNG.
