The N75 billion worth Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) will be rolled out before the end of October 2020. This was disclosed by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, in a statement on Wednesday, according to NAN.
The statement, which was issued by the Minister’s Assistant Chief Information Officer, Olatunji John, explained that the ministry challenged youths to come up with brilliant ideas that would enable them to access between N250,000 and N50 million of the N75 billion Nigerian Youth Investment Fund for sustainability.
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He stated, “The programme is about to be rolled out before the end of this month. President Muhammadu Buhari approved N75 billion in three years because he believes in the dream of youths, aimed at lifting 10 million Nigerians, including youths out of poverty before 2023.”
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What you must possess
While urging the youths to take advantage of the opportunity, Dare stated that prospective applicants must show clearly that they have the market, resources and manpower to access the fund.
“The process for accessing the fund would be fair to all youths aged 18 to 35, regardless of their ethnicity or social status,” he added.
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According to him, the move became imperative “because building a youthful population that is empowered and successful, is one of the cardinal objectives of this administration.
“For the first time, this country is investing directly in youths. So, government is taking a good risk on our youths, which it hopes will awaken their creative and genius innovative ideas.”
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The Minister recalled that apart from the Federal Government investment fund, the ministry had initiated other youth-centered opportunities such as the Digital Literacy, Entrepreneurship, Employability and Leadership Skills (D.E.E.L) and Work Experience Programme (W.E.P).
Others, he said, included the Digital Youth Nigeria (DY.ng) and Nigeria Online Youth Assembly (NOYA) programme, all carefully crafted to address unemployment and employability of youths.
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Back story: On October 1, 2020, Nairametrics reported that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) announced that the NYIF would soon be disbursed.
The apex bank made the announcement via its Twitter handle on Thursday, while the nation marked its 60th Independence anniversary.
Pls how can I apply