500,000 Nigerian Youths to Benefit from N75 Billion NYIF Annually for 3 Years

Five hundred thousand (500,000) Nigerian youths will benefit from the N75 billion Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) approved by the Federal Government.

Recall that in July 2020, the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari approved the establishment of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), to the tune of N75 billion for a period of 3 years.

While speaking on the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF), the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare said: “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”.

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Below are all you need to know about the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF):

1. The NYIF is aimed at turning the Nigerian youths into entrepreneurs, wealth creators and employers of labour contributing to national development.
2. A minimum of N25 billion each year for the next 3 years, totalling N75billion will be required to ring the NYIF. For the remaining part of 2020, an initial sum of N12.5 billion will be required to kick start the NYIF. It is thus expected that the successive governments will keep the funds alive.
3. The NYIF is ring-fenced funding that will be required to cater to the investment needs of persons between the ages of 18 and 35 years old.
4. The NYIF joins the slew of youths focused programs already in place by the Muhammad Buhari led FG as part of a National Plan to combat youth unemployment and drive innovation, fuel entrepreneurship as well as support youth SMEs.
5. NYIF provides a single-window of Investment Fund for the youth, thereby, creating a common bucket for all Nigerian youth to access Government support. Providing less cumbersome access to credit and finance for the average Nigerian youth with an approved work plan or business idea will help lift thousands of the youth out of poverty and birth a whole generation of entrepreneurs.
6. The fund aims to reach 500,000 youth annually between 2020 and 2023. Each fund approval will range from N250,000 to N50,000,000, with a spread across group applications, individual applications, working capital loans set at 1 year and term loans set at 3 years with single-digit single-digit of 5%.
7. Disbursement will be through various channels, which will include – Micro Credit Organizations and Venture Capital Organizations, registered with the CBN.
8. The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning (MFBNP) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) will provide the financing to kick start the NYIF.
9. The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development will handle the processes for setting up the fund by inaugurating a Board of Trustees Committee under the leadership of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development and possibly work on the legislation of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).
10. Youth seeking to benefit from the fund must have a fundable business idea, registered business, be a citizen of Nigeria, present recognized means of identification and guarantors.

According to the Ministry of Youth and Sports, “the safeguards built around some specifics being crafted around the fund will ensure that potential beneficiaries do not need to know anyone or be “connected” to access the fund”.

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