The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), as part of its development finance initiatives in collaboration with the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, has so far released the sum of N3 billion to 7, 057 beneficiaries across the country under the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).
The CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emeele disclosed this during the press briefing at the end of the 280th Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting on July 28, 2021 in which he noted that of the beneficiaries, 4, 411 were individuals and 2,646 were SMEs.
The NYIF programme, which was launched as part of the Bank’s drive to improve access to nance for youth and youth-owned enterprises; generate employment opportunities to curb youth restiveness; and boost the managerial capacity of
the youth while developing their potential to become future large corporate organizations.
The NYIF seeks to provide Nigerian youth between the ages of 18-35 years with investment inputs required to build successful businesses; become sustainable employers of labour by generating at least 500,000 jobs in critical economic and social sectors between 2020 and 2023.
Other disbursements in the report on the Bank’s development nance initiatives included the Creative Industry Financing Initiative (CIFI) in which the sum of N3.22 billion has been disbursed to 356 beneficiaries across movie production, movie distribution, software development, fashion and IT verticals.
The CBN has also disbursed N923.41 billion to 251 real sector projects of which 87 were in light manufacturing, 40 in agro-based industry, 32 in services and 11 in mining. Five beneficiaries have also received grants totaling 232.54 million for the development of testing kits and devices for COVID-19 and Lassa Fever under the CBN Healthcare Sector Research and Development Intervention Scheme (HSRDIS).