The NNPC Foundation, a subsidiary dedicated to carrying out the company's social responsibility programmes, says it is partnering with the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in providing entrepreneurial/empowerment programmes to address the root of the unemployment challenge at the graduate level.

In a statement, it said the NYSC Empowerment Programme is designed to upscale NNPC Ltd.'s intervention to the national level while addressing the factor of financial illiteracy which had been identified as the reason for the low level of success in the various interventions.

Speaking on the objective of the programme, the Managing Director of NNPC Foundation, Emmanuella Arukwe, stated that by educating corps members on financial management and entrepreneurship, the program aims to empower them to become economically self-sufficient and to contribute positively to society.

She added that in 2024, a total of 560,065 NYSC members benefited from the programme having created a training/empowerment module targeted at young graduates mobilised for the compulsory national youth service across the 37 NYSC Orientation Camps in the country.

"Interested corps members sign up for the module and are equipped with financial literacy skills to enable them manage and invest their money effectively and function as entrepreneurs. But the NNPC Foundation's NYSC Empowerment Programme goes beyond just equipping corps members with financial literacy skills. Incorporated within the programme is Business Pitching Exercise. This is targeted at those corps members who exhibit keener interest and higher aptitude in pursuing establishing their own businesses and pursuing an entrepreneurial path."

She said a total of 2,659 corps members across the country participated in its pitching while facilitating a 50% reduction in the registration fees for some of the corps members to register their businesses with the Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) thereby starting them off on their entrepreneurial journey.