Over 5,000 beneficiaries of the YouWin programme have pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene for the release of their seed capital to start their proposed businesses.
The beneficiaries of the YouWin programme, a federal government’s empowerment initiative, said since they were shortlisted for the YouWin Connect for the 2017/2018 segment, nothing has come to them.
In a statement in Abuja by Yusuf Hamza Maska on behalf of the beneficiaries, they said they had since written a letter to the president seeking his intervention.
“We, the beneficiaries of YouWin Connect 2017/2018 edition, humbly write you, Mr. President, to reiterate our ever readiness to employ our youthful energy and talents into useful ventures that will create jobs, create and recreate wealth to boost the nation’s economic development.
“Therefore, we solicit your magnanimous directive to the Minister of Finance for the immediate release of funds for our proposed businesses,” the statement said.
The statement said 61,000 Nigerian youths out of the 250,000 applicants were invited for online training and assessment after the finance ministry issued a general invitation for the programme in 2017.
After the training, the statement said, 5,000 of them were shortlisted in December 2017 after passing the necessary tests, noting that they were shortlisted in three categories: the national merit list, the regional merit list, and the state merit list.
“Your Excellency, since then till now we have not received any positive information from the Ministry of Finance concerning the anticipated funding of our proposed businesses or even information on what have been delaying the progress of the program,” they said.
