By ZAKAA LAZARUS
The Chartered Institute of Personnel Management (CIPM) has indicated interest in supporting the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) to consolidate its gains on youth mentorship, Corps empowerment and national integration.
Speaking during a visit to the NYSC Headquarters in Abuja, the Registrar and Chief Executive of the CIPM, Ms Oluwatoyin Naiwo, said the body was the only statutory regulator of human resource management practice in Nigeria, having been established by an Act of Parliament in year 2004.
In her words: “As at today, we have over 20,000 certified members including senior public officials, and we operate 5 Zonal Offices nationwide with our headquarters in Lagos.”
Naiwo commended the NYSC for its strides on youth mentorship for leadership roles and provision of entrepreneurial skills for job creation, just as she advocated stronger collaboration between the two bodies.
“We commend your visionary reform which is focused on skills development, digital innovation and employability, which are repositioning the Scheme as a powerful engine for national workforce readiness,” she added
The Registrar stressed the need for Corps Members to be acquainted with the CIPM and guided appropriately for post-service opportunities.
To this end, she proposed presentation by the body during NYSC Orientation Courses with a view to empowering Corps Members with ideas on work-place experience and structured career planning, among others.
In his response, the NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, expressed the Scheme’s readiness to collaborate with organisations that are focused on youth development and national integration. He added that Corps Members were always interested in whatever would add value to them.
The DG stressed the importance of manpower development, adding that the NYSC was favourably disposed to strengthening collaboration with the CIPM.
He said both agencies would form a joint technical team to work out ways of actioning the proposal for stronger collaboration.
