The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has released the framework to guide NIRSAL Microfinance Bank in disbursing the N75bn Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (N-YIF).
The guidelines are contained in a statement titled ‘Framework for the operation of the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank window of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund’ released on Wednesday.
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According to the CBN, the Youth Investment Fund, to be funded through NIRSAL MFB window, will take off with an initial seed capital of N12.5 billion.
The N-YIF aims to financially empower Nigerian youths to generate at least 500,000 jobs between 2020 and 2023.
The CBN said the Nigerian Youth Employment Action Plan was developed by the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development as a built-in strategy to respond effectively to the youth employment challenge in Nigeria.
Objectives of the scheme are to; improve access to finance for youths and youth-owned enterprises for national development; generate much-needed employment opportunities to curb youth restiveness and boost the managerial capacity of the youths, and develop their potentials to become the future large corporate organizations.
According to the framework, young people between the ages of 18 and 35 years form the target group the Fund.
The statement added that the fund would institutionally provide the youths with a special window for accessing the funds, finances, business management skills and other inputs critical for sustainable enterprise development.
The CBN said the Federal Ministry of Youths and Sports was the lead implementation entity and was responsible for budgetary provisions and for the mobilisation of the fund.
