The Youth Enterprise Support Programme (YES-Programme) being conducted by the Bank of Industry (BOI) was said to be an approach at addressing the worrisome phenomenon of youth unemployment in Nigeria by developing the capacity of the youths and funding their business ideas. The YES programme aimed at equipping young people with the skills and knowledge to be self-employed by starting and managing their own businesses has trained its first batch of successful participants in different states of the federation.

Participants who were trained were drawn from young aspiring entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 years, with innovative ideas as well as having a minimum educational qualification of an Ordinary National Diploma (OND).

The training began with an Eight ( weeks extensive online Entrepreneurship and Business Management training which has the ability to test participants’ understanding and track their progress. After that those who scored high in the eighteen (18) courses were selected and notified for a five (5) days in-class Entrepreneurship and Business Management training (5 modules).

These comprise of technical skills training in partnership with the various technical training and vocational institutes in the country. Financing the businesses by BOI under its SME Cluster initiative in consonance with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Commodity-based Industrialisation Strategy.

The online course requires commitment as only 70% of those from this stage will proceed to the one week in-class training before being absorbed into the BOI pipeline preferred applicants for the loan.

The participants during the in-class training were disappointed by the revelations from BOI. Special note was taken on some very important issues among others. These are as follows:
1. That your original highest educational certificate will be submitted and held by BOI until the loan is paid back.
2. That two guarantors of Grade Level 12 and above as well as two witnesses be provided with their salary bank accounts.
3. That the loan applied for will NEVER be given in cash, but the bank will use it to pay for the items or materials/equipment required in the proposed or established business.
Analysis from well meaning Nigerians has shown that the government is truly not willing to assist the youth in establishing their own businesses.

The money in question is a LOAN which is payable with interest yet the terms and conditions are very strict and unfriendly. Information gathered shows that the funds are unacessible. This has made majority of the participants to back out of the programme after the in-class training.

The BOI admitted that weeks after the in-class training, only a few participants have returned with their final proposals.

It is very important to note again that the present administration created various channels of youth empowerment programmes among which are the N-Power, BIG Portal, YES-P, etc. Many of them have trained participants but non has benefitted the youths so far, as what we see all over the place is motion without an actual movement.

The question is: Is the government truly ready to empower the youths or are they playing politics with us? Using the BOI's strict terms and conditions is really scary and a start on wrong footing.

If na only me nobody go attend that shiit in the first place

winningwinner:
The Youth Enterprise Support Programme (YES-Programme) being conducted by the Bank of Industry (BOI) was said to be an approach at addressing the worrisome phenomenon of youth unemployment in Nigeria by developing the capacity of the youths and funding their business ideas. The YES programme aimed at equipping young people with the skills and knowledge to be self-employed by starting and managing their own businesses has trained its first batch of successful participants in different states of the federation.

Participants who were trained were drawn from young aspiring entrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 35 years, with innovative ideas as well as having a minimum educational qualification of an Ordinary National Diploma (OND).

The training began with an Eight ( weeks extensive online Entrepreneurship and Business Management training which has the ability to test participants’ understanding and track their progress. After that those who scored high in the eighteen (18) courses were selected and notified for a five (5) days in-class Entrepreneurship and Business Management training (5 modules).

These comprise of technical skills training in partnership with the various technical training and vocational institutes in the country. Financing the businesses by BOI under its SME Cluster initiative in consonance with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa’s Commodity-based Industrialisation Strategy.

The online course requires commitment as only 70% of those from this stage will proceed to the one week in-class training before being absorbed into the BOI pipeline preferred applicants for the loan.

The participants during the in-class training were disappointed by the revelations from BOI. Special note was taken on some very important issues among others. These are as follows:
1. That your original highest educational certificate will be submitted and held by BOI until the loan is paid back.
2. That two guarantors of Grade Level 12 and above as well as two witnesses be provided with their salary bank accounts.
3. That the loan applied for will NEVER be given in cash, but the bank will use it to pay for the items or materials/equipment required in the proposed or established business.
Analysis from well meaning Nigerians has shown that the government is truly not willing to assist the youth in establishing their own businesses.

The money in question is a LOAN which is payable with interest yet the terms and conditions are very strict and unfriendly. Information gathered shows that the funds are unacessible. This has made majority of the participants to back out of the programme after the in-class training.

The BOI admitted that weeks after the in-class training, only a few participants have returned with their final proposals.

It is very important to note again that the present administration created various channels of youth empowerment programmes among which are the N-Power, BIG Portal, YES-P, etc. Many of them have trained participants but non has benefitted the youths so far, as what we see all over the place is motion without an actual movement.

The question is: Is the government truly ready to empower the youths or are they playing politics with us? Using the BOI's strict terms and conditions is really scary and a start on wrong footing.

I backed out when it was already becoming boring

This is so dissapointing, our govt have no plans the youth, it's just really bad!

I still have not seen the outcome of the noise about youth empowerment and support when what we see is propaganda and face washing for the government. Anyway, the Nigerian youths are to be blamed. They cannot stand for their right and follow it to the end. No wonder the aged among us are still ruling because they do not trust us.