Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (YouWin) programme which was initiated by GEJ in 2011 as part of his government’s job creation initiatives, yearly, provides grants to about 1200 people to start small businesses. It also made provisions for the training of entrepreneurs.
According to the ministry of finance ministry, on July 22, the FG will consult with beneficiaries and other concerned parties, on the restructuring and refocusing of the multi-billion Naira programme, with the objective of injecting new ideas for its sustainability.
A statement from the ministry said 18, 000 young entrepreneurs were trained in various aspects of Small and Medium Enterprises management and business skills; and 3, 900 of them were each given non-repayable take-off grants ranging from N1m up to a maximum of N10m.
Beneficiaries who were yet to receive payment before the GEJ government ended, had accused the Buhari government of abandoning the programme and refusing to finance their projects.
But the finance ministry says the third edition of the programme, which is still running with 1,500 beneficiaries, has received N11.2bn in funding, and so far grants totaling N7.4bn have been disbursed to the awardees. In June 2016 alone, the sum of N1.687 billion was paid to 638 awardees.
The Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, has promised that the programme will be restructured to ensure efficiency, transparency and accountability in investing the capital grants given to the beneficiaries by the FG.
She confirmed that all FG commitments under the YouWIN programme will be fully met, but due diligence would be carried out on every beneficiary, using tools like the Bank Verification Number (BVN), and before disbursements…. she ended up by thanking hero GEJ for his foresight….