The Federal Executive Council chaired by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, has yesterday 22nd July 2020 approved the establishment of the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund, NYIF. The ₦75Billion three-year plan Fund, first ever of its kind in Nigeria, will serve as a special youth bank that will fund and support innovative enterprises, skills, talents, and ideas of the country’s youth. The news was disclosed by the Minister for Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, to State House reporters after more than eight hours of meeting chaired by the president.

The president had highlighted the plans of his administration to give the youths a significant role in the decision making and development plans of the country during the United Nations General Assembly discourse on climate change in 2018. The appointment of Sunday Dare who is a seasoned journalist and multimedia expert as Minister for Youth and Sports Development was the right step in the right direction as the minister has continued to make innovative strides that is benefitting the sports sector while effectively working in synergy with the private sector, and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development. In addition, the establishment of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, and appointment of another youth in the person of Sadiya Umar Farouq as Minister for the portfolio, has began to generate the expected urgency in government’s youth-centred policies and decisions.

Mr Dare, while disclosing the news to State House correspondents in Abuja, said:

The President Buhari led Federal Executive Council today approved the establishment of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund, NYIF, to the tune of 75 billion naira for 3 years following a memo presented by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development. The Youth thank, Mr. President.

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.

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 establishment of the NYIF is a fufilment. Nigerian youth thank Mr. President.

This is a great news for the youths of this country. The Nigerian youths have plenty talents but little governmental support. President Muhammadu Buhari’s FG is stepping up with giving this necessary support and showing the political will to include the youths as a vital demographic bloc for the progress of the country.

Recently, the Federal Government continued the N-Power programme, to train and support another 400,000 youths for the next two years.

The information technology sector is set to benefit immensely from this fund as the youth in the sector are in the forefront of innovative solutions and ideas.

The Fund could also help finance promising sports men and women who are often in Nigeria faced with problems of dearth of financial support and equipment necessary for them to develop themselves. A situation that has led to many athletes seeking to represent other countries ready to support their needs, creating a major loss to the country’s talent pool at global competitions.

Various programmes have been established to provide loans to medium, small and micro enterprises, although most of them are not youth-specific. This Fund, an unprecedented decision in the history of Nigeria, will go a long way to boost youth confidence in the polity. It is the first time since the current democratic dispensation that the youth have been considered as a veritable investable demographic.