Here's What You Need To Know As President Buhari Approves Youth Fund

A Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) will be established by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to support the youths financially in their quest to run an enterprise. The fund will be equipped with N75 billion to empower the youth's entrepreneurship drive across the country.

The Nigeria Youth Investment Fund is an initiative of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare. The idea was approved for establishment yesterday, July 22, 2020, by the Federal Executive Council (FEC), led by President Buhari, after Dare presented a memo about the Youth fund.

Why The Youth Fund Is Important

The approval was revealed by the Minister of Youth in a series of tweets on his official Twitter account, @SundayDareSD. The Youth fund initiative comes at a period micro and small businesses are struggling financially due to the negative impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their business activities.

Some of the micro and small businesses are operated by the youths who have been downcasted by the disruption in their business following the outbreak of coronavirus in Nigeria. AllNews had reported that Nigeria went on lockdown for about two months, restricting movements which affected patronage of businesses.

After the pandemic hit Nigeria, there have been several palliatives created for micro, small and medium businesses, with the Central Bank of Nigeria offering credit relief or COVID-19 loans as support. The Youth fund will expand access to credit or loan for their skill, talents and enterprise development.

The Youth fund will lead to job creation, sprung up new enterprises, support existing micro, small and medium businesses owned by youths and increase the youths' contribution to the economy. Currently the youths are migrating from informal sector and traditional businesses to tech space which has been attracting millions of foreign investments into the country.

What You Need To Know

This is the first fund by the government that will be targeting the youth. The N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund will be disbursed for three years once it has been established. There are over 80 million youths in Nigeria, and this fund will heavily invest in their ideas for the growth of Nigeria's economy.

While speaking about the approval, Dare stated that, "The NYIF is to serve as a sort of Youth Bank that will fund and support the innovative ideas, skills, talents and enterprise of the Nigerian Youth. A loan and credit pathway dedicated to assessing credit and soft loans.This is the very first of its kind by any Nigerian government.

"By approving the establishment of the NYIF, President Buhari has demonstrated his unflinching support for the Nigerian Youth and his implicit confidence in their innovative talents, potentials, industry. NYIF will accelerate Nigeria’s investment in the ideas of her youth." Dare said.

Adding that President Muhammadu Buhari  has fufilled his assertion that “ ... it is our collective responsibility to ensure that we provide adequate resources to meet the basic needs of our teeming youth”. The Youth Minister tweeted.