The approval of $100 million loan by the Board of Directors of African Development Bank (AfDB) to establish a Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank in Nigeria is laudable. The gesture will halt the migration of Nigerian youths to foreign countries in search of greener pastures. President of AfDB, Dr. Akinwumi Adesina, who disclosed this during the celebration of the 90th birthday of former military Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, in Abuja, stated that the objectives of the youth entrepreneurship programme would include increased access to finance for youths and women-led small and medium enterprises. According to him, the approval of the loan would quicken the rollout of the flagship, Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank (YEIB).
The YEIB is specifically designed to support start-up businesses by Nigerian youths, using technical assistance, business incubation and investment equity. The main objective of the bank is to halt the exodus of Nigerian youths, especially the Generation Z, to foreign countries. This represents the demographic of people born between the late 1995 and early 2010. They are also called Zoomers, because they are familiar with the use of digital technology, the internet and social media from a very young age. The bank will and its partners will invest $614 million in Digital and Creative Enterprise (I-DICE) programme. Adesina rightly observed that the present high level youth unemployment in the country cannot be justified.
The bold initiative will add $6 billion to Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and create about 6.5 million jobs. There is no that Nigeria is in a race against time to catch up with other countries whose youths are dominating the tech world. Every effort should be put in place to increase the investment in youth empowerment and development of the next generation of leaders. This effort should also lay emphasis in addressing the scarcity of skilled professionals in technology and related fields in the nation’s tertiary institutions. The youths should be provided with the necessary tools to thrive in their respective fields that will make them globally competitive. It is refreshing that the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Olayemi Cardoso, has reaffirmed the commitment of the apex bank to youth development. The bank should walk the talk, while the federal government should initiate more policies that will impact the lives of the youths. The other day, President Tinubu announced that the government would organize a Youth Conference to address the needs of Nigerian youths. We hope that the President will use the youth confab to initiate programmes that will specifically create jobs for the youths or provide them with enablers to be creators of jobs. We enjoin the youths to take advantage of these interventions to overcome some of their challenges and create a future of their dream. It is time they begin to think outside the box. We believe that the AfDB investment bank on entrepreneurship will be the game changer. The bank had earlier rolled some financial packages to expand youth investment in the country as well as investments to boost food production in some states. The investments include the $1billion Special Agro-Industrial Processing Zones (SAPZ). Some years ago, the bank financed $85 million Zaria water supply and sanitation project.
Unfortunately, many of the ambitious programmes targeted at youth employment and food production have fallen short of expectations largely because some of the creditors did not faithfully monitor the progress of the projects. Some of these projects were hampered by government’s bureaucracy and official corruption. Therefore, the officials of the AfDB must ensure that the $100million investment succeeds. The relevant agencies of the government must render the needed assistance to the youth entrepreneurial investment bank.
Moving forward, the Nigerian government should not always wait for regional or global agencies such as the AfDB to take the lead in tackling youth unemployment. However, we caution that the $100million Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank should not be turned into a political patronage by the government. The opportunities from the bank’s intervention should be thrown open to all Nigerian youths and not to the children of All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwarts and their supporters. We enjoin the state governments to support the ongoing efforts by the bank and other agencies to create jobs for Nigerian youths.