The National Youth Council of Nigeria (NYCN) has decried the use of the N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) earmarked to stimulate economic activities among the youths in the country.
NYCN President, Comrade Solomon Adodo, who spoke in Abuja during the national youth economic summit to commemorate the 2021 National Youth Day, alleged that the NYIF has performed very abysmally, lacks coordination, information and transparency.
The youth leader demanded explanation from the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr. Sunday Dare on the usage of the fund.
Adodo, who applauded President Muhammadu Buhari for putting in place numerous deliberate economic interventions targeting the youth, said it would be unpardonable for the laudable project to be mismanaged.
He lauded President Buhari’s key empowerment programmes, including the N-Power, agricultural loans, SMEs grants, conditional cash transfers and the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).
“These programmes have achieved a lot on many individual and group bases. The findings of NYCN show that many young people built their businesses through the loans and grants from the Central Bank of Nigeria or some of its agencies like Nigeria Incentive-based Risk Sharing System for Agricultural Lending (NIRSAL); Bank of Agriculture (BOA) Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN) etc.
“There have also been very deliberate Youth Intervention Programmes through trainings and empowerment by the Federal Ministry of Communications and Digital Economy. Many youths are now joined to the various opportunities in the digital economy. Indeed, the trainings offered by National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) have our members in participation. And they are doing well today.
“Beyond these programmes, President Muhammadu Buhari’s projects are for the future. The rails are back, and increasing. The waterways have become economic hubs. The huge investments in gas is for a future powered more by gas than premium motor spirit. Continuous investments in alternative energy and the power sector etc. These are projects to help the youth escape from the hardship of the earlier generations.”
Also speaking, Dominic Ogakwu of the civil society groups for good governance (CSGGG), who expressed dissatisfaction on the usage of the fund, urged the youths to rise up and hold those in position of governance accountable.
