The Federal Government has announced plans to train and certify 300 National Youth Service Corps members as compressed natural gas technicians and attach them to CNG conversion centres across Nigeria.

The Senior Special Assistant to the President on Youth Initiatives, Monitoring and Delivery, Dr Titilope Gbadamosi, disclosed this at the opening of the CNG Retrofitting Training Programme for corps members at the NYSC FCT Orientation Camp in Kubwa, Abuja.

According to Gbadamosi, the programme will be implemented across Nigeria's six geopolitical zones and is intended to place young Nigerians at the centre of the country's transition towards CNG.

She said the initiative supports the Federal Government's target of having 100,000 vehicles retrofitted annually.

The National Automotive and Development Council is providing technical certification standards and funding for the programme, while the selected corps members will receive specialised training before being attached to CNG conversion centres.

Minister of Youth Development Ayodele Olawande said the programme would create employment and entrepreneurship opportunities for corps members beyond their mandatory service year. He encouraged participants to use the technical skills alongside their academic qualifications.

The NYSC Director-General, Brigadier General Olakunle Nafiu, described the initiative as an example of inter-agency collaboration and said the scheme had trained more than three million corps members in various skills since 2012.

He added that the CNG training would help bridge the gap between academic knowledge and practical skills while supporting Nigeria's energy transition.