In view of the highly positive response to the N10 billion Youth Entrepreneurship Support (YES) programme of the Bank of Industry (BOI), that was launched in the middle of March by the Minister of Industry Trade and Investment, Dr. Okechikwu Enelama, the Federal Government might have found a panacea to the problem of youth unemployment in the country.
According to BOI’s Acting Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Waheed Olagunju, the fact that the bank received more 13,272 online applications as at April 1, 2016, – two weeks after the scheme was launched, which is in excess of the 10,000 applications that were projected to be filed in six weeks, is an indication of the wide acceptance of the YES programme among Nigerian Youths across the country as shown by the geo-political analysis of the applicants.
Olagunju was particularly pleased to note that the North East is leading with 1,300 applicants, followed by South West with 1,150 and North Central with 663.
Also, North West accounted for 634 of the applications, while 526 applications were received from South South and South East recorded the lowest with 204.
BOI’s chief further explained that considering the enthusiastic response to the scheme at this early stage, the bank and its eleven partnering enterprise development institutions were taking proactive steps to increase the number of the applicants that would attend the five-day capacity building sessions at eight centres in the six geo political zones of the country.
He added that the fund size would also be increased to meet the increasing number of applicants that could potentially be transformed into successful entrepreneurs in the required critical mass and ultimately employers of labour
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