Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Prince Clem Ikanade Agba, has assured Nigerian youths of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to their demand for comprehensive reforms of the Nigeria Police.
Agba, during his ongoing ministerial engagements with stakeholders in Edo State, which he started with a visit to Oba of Benin, Ewuare II, on Wednesday, in his remarks, urged the youth to avail themselves of the opportunity provided by the Judicial Panel of Inquiry and Restitution investigating alleged police brutality.
He said while waiting for the outcomes of these government actions, the youth should take advantage of the numerous programmes and opportunities that the Federal Government had crafted for Nigerians, especially with the youth in mind. According to him, “the Federal Government, in July, this year, approved a N75 billion Youth Fund for which we have already appropriated N25 billion in the 2021 budget submitted to the National Assembly.
“The aim is to support youths to actualise their innovative and entrepreneurial ideas in growing their businesses and becoming self-reliant. The registration portal for the N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) has now been officially unveiled, thereby paving the way for interested young Nigerians between the ages of 18 and 35 years old to apply.
“Successful applicants will undergo five days of compulsory online training, which is free. Fund approval will range from N250,000 to N5,000,000, with a spread across group applications, individual applications, working capital loans set at one year and term loans set at three years.
“These are the requirements: phone number, gender, residential address, geo-political zone, state of origin, local government area, educational level and select preferred training centre.
“The Fund was carved out as we noticed disenfranchisement of the youth when it comes to participation in government facilities. We also noticed that a lot of the criteria were too stringent, thus reducing accessibility.
Therefore, the criteria for the NYIF are very simple for potential beneficiaries who must be Nigerian citizens, 35 years or younger, have fundable business idea, have a registered business (those with unregistered businesses can also apply) and should be able to present recognised means of identification and guarantors.”
