NITDA Unveils Innovation Hub to Turn NYSC Members into Tech Entrepreneurs

“The world is changing fast. Many of the jobs we see today did not exist decades ago. If you want to succeed, you must build relevant skills and have a clear career strategy.” Inuwa 

.... Says "between 3.5 million and 4 million young Nigerians enter the labour market annually, placing strain on traditional employment systems and making innovation-led job creation a national priority.

“Our goal is simple: before you leave here, you should either have built a business or created something valuable enough to earn you a place in the ecosystem.”

The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has launched a dedicated innovation hub aimed at transforming National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) members into digital entrepreneurs and solution providers, as Nigeria faces mounting pressure from a rapidly growing youth labour force.

The facility, known as the NITDA Innovation Space, was commissioned at the agency’s headquarters in Abuja, bringing together senior NITDA officials, NYSC leadership, technology stakeholders and serving corps members.

Speaking at the launch, NITDA Director General, Mallam Kashifu Inuwa, said the initiative responds to the demands of a fast-evolving global economy where digital skills and innovation define employability.

“The world is changing fast. Many of the jobs we see today did not exist decades ago. If you want to succeed, you must build relevant skills and have a clear career strategy,” he said.

Inuwa noted that between 3.5 million and 4 million young Nigerians enter the labour market annually, placing strain on traditional employment systems and making innovation-led job creation a national priority.

“Our goal is simple: before you leave here, you should either have built a business or created something valuable enough to earn you a place in the ecosystem,” he added.

He also stressed the importance of career planning and personal visibility in today’s digital economy.

“You need to have the skills that will help you succeed wherever you find yourself in life. And secondly, you need to have a good career plan. A good career plan is something that can answer big questions like ‘Where do you want to be in the next few years?’ And many of us, we don’t think about this.”

Drawing from his own experience, Inuwa recalled how a voluntary project during his 2004 service year—where he built a website using his NYSC allowance—earned him a ₦1.5 million contract and set him on his professional path.

“You need to create visibility. If you stand out, you don’t have to ask for jobs,” he said.

In his remarks, NYSC Director General, Brigadier General Olakunle Oluseye Nafiu, described the initiative as a model for youth empowerment and national development.

“We don’t just post corps members for service; we post them to add value and to be developed. What is happening here at NITDA is exactly what the country needs,” Nafiu said.

He commended corps members for presenting market-ready digital solutions, noting that the programme underscores the continued relevance of the NYSC scheme in a technology-driven era.

“The future of this country is here with these youths; we are going back with stories that at NITDA, they are not just accepting corps members; they are transforming them into better Nigerians,” he added.

Nafiu also revealed that the NYSC is undergoing digital transformation, announcing that from the 2026 Batch A Stream One, the scheme has fully digitised its ID card system, allowing corps members to access identification through digital dashboards.

He further expressed interest in adopting a Place of Primary Assignment (PPA) verification and management solution developed by corps members at NITDA, calling for formal collaboration between both organisations for nationwide deployment.

“The youths we deploy are not just serving; they are solution providers,” he said, urging Ministries, Departments and Agencies to go beyond routine postings and engage corps members as contributors to national solutions.

At the event, corps members showcased functional digital innovations, including the NITDA Smart ID Management system developed by Team Sentinel and Trivergent, as well as the NYSC Corps360 (COPA App) by Team COPA. The tools are designed to improve identity management, service coordination and operational efficiency within the NYSC scheme.

One of the innovators, Ruth Mmachi Owana Jack, an ex-NITDA corps member, described her team’s Smart ID System as “a secure and unified digital identity solution designed for modern institutions.”

She explained that the idea was inspired by inefficiencies in identity management across organisations.

“Identity cards cannot be updated in real time, which leads to constant reprinting,” she said, adding that staff often carry multiple cards with limited data tracking and growing concerns around security, privacy and what she termed “identity immobility.”

According to her, the solution consolidates identity management into a single platform.

“Our solution is a seamless Smart ID system that combines a mobile application, a web application, and a unified card that supports NFC for instant digital sharing,” she said. “One card for all purposes: secure identification, real time updates, and seamless interaction within and across organisations.”

Owana Jack credited her experience at NITDA for shaping the solution.

“Working within the system exposed me to real operational gaps, especially around identity management, data handling, and access control,” she said, thanking the agency for creating “the opportunities for us to explore, experiment, and build solutions like this.”

She added that the agency provided “not just the environment, but the support and platform to think critically, collaborate effectively, and build in line with Nigeria’s digital transformation goals.”

On scaling, she said the solution would be deployed in phases, starting from NITDA before expanding to other government institutions and eventually the private sector.

“Now that we have ended up with our service year, the focus is to move this from a project into a fully deployable, production ready solution,” she said, noting that the training received has strengthened her confidence and approach to problem-solving.

Similarly, Lukman M. Abdullahi, another former corps member, said the structured training at NITDA played a key role in developing the Secure Smart ID solution.

“At NITDA currently, staff members use multiple cards for different functionality — one card for access and one card for networking. Not only is this inefficient, but it is costly and product wasteful,” he said.

He noted that lost cards often require costly replacements, adding that their solution integrates access, identity and business functions into a single card, backed by digital alternatives via mobile and web platforms.

Abdullahi said NITDA’s impact goes beyond technical training, offering corps members exposure to real-world problem-solving and national platforms.

“NITDA provided a gateway for innovators to showcase themselves — not just to high ranking officials but, to an extent, to the nation. That level of exposure and opportunity is very rare, especially for free,” he said.

He added that exposure to diverse environments “forces critical thinking and learning how to adapt,” describing it as “an important form of survival training.”

Looking ahead, he said the team plans nationwide expansion.

“We want all government agencies and organisations, not just NITDA and its subsidiaries, to operate in this manner. We want Nigeria to evolve in how its processes function,” he said.

For years, NITDA has absorbed an average of 700 corps members annually—nearly doubling its permanent workforce—and has leveraged this pool to drive innovation through training in emerging technologies, mentorship and structured development programmes.

Rather than treating the NYSC year as a routine obligation, the agency has repositioned it as an innovation pipeline where corps members are encouraged to solve real-world problems and build commercially viable solutions before completing service.

The new innovation space will serve as a hub for NITDA’s Idea to Impact programme, which supports corps members in refining early-stage ideas into deployable products. Several of these solutions are already in use within the agency, while others are being prepared for commercialisation.

Aligned with President Bola Tinubu’s vision for youth empowerment and digital transformation, the launch of the NITDA Innovation Space signals a shift in how national service is perceived—from a transitional phase to a platform for innovation, enterprise and long-term impact.