50 Youths to Benefit from CBN N220bn MSME Fund

Following the launch of the Youths Entrepreneurship Strategy in Oil and Gas Industry, 50 youths has been identified as beneficiaries of the N220 billion set aside for Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and are billed for entrepreneurship training.

Daily Times gathered that part of the N220 billion set aside for Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSME) through the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would be utilized to fund the Youth Entrepreneurship Strategy.

Minister of Industry, Trade and Investment Olusegun Aganga, while addressing the youths at the launch organized by Anabel Leadership Academy in Abuja recently, noted that the Federal Government was fully determined to empower the youths as the power of the youth in the economic development cannot be underrated.

According to Aganga, the Nigerian youths form a very substantial segment of the population; hence government want to empower them in order to stem the tide of unemployment, poverty, hunger and squalor.

 He called on the youths to take advantage of the window of opportunities created for them adding that “Apart from empowerment through entrepreneurship training and certification, you must take advantage of the power reform and industrialization. These are windows of opportunities. The greatest asset you have now is your brain and that is where the future lies.”

He explained that the power of the youth in economic development is very important today so any country that does not tap the potential of the youths cannot compete globally.

“It is important we re-invent ourselves and position our economy for industrialisation and entrepreneurship”, he said.

The conveyer of the launch and Anabel Leadership Academy’s Chief Executive Officer, Nicholas Okoye, explained that as a response to the federal government’s efforts at creating a window of opportunities for the youths to become employers of labour, there must be network of young Nigerians that would take over.

Okoye explained that the empowerment programme would be executed through the Nigerian content fund set aside to build capacity, stressing that Anabel’s role in the initiative is that of facilitator by exposing the prospective young entrepreneurs to an array of skills that would prepare them to realize their dreams.

“Under the programme, young registered entrepreneurs would be equipped with training and funding to participate in the oil and gas sector to create jobs, remain sustainable and expand globally.

“This implies that Anabel has a very fundamental role to play in this process because training and certification must be accomplished before the issue of funding by the government or direct job with the organized private sector could follow” Okoye said.

Commenting as  the parastatal in charge of the programme, Executive Secretary Nigerian Content Development and Monitoring Board, (NCDMB), Engr. Ernest Nwapa, warned that the training was not a guarantee for job placement but to empower the youths to be self-employed.

Nwapa however said that the potential beneficiaries of the training must belong to one of the associations in the Oil and Gas industry.

It will be recalled that recently, the Chattered Institute of Stockbrokers (CIS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Anabel Leadership Academy to mobilize 150,000 youths annually for the institute’s Professional Diploma in Securities and Investment.

On this note, Okoye stated that the beneficiaries of the institute’s training would be integrated into the Youths Entrepreneurship Strategy.