TheCable

The ministry of youth and sports development has asked Nigerian youths who applied for loans under the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to respond to their emails.

The federal executive council (FEC) had approved N75 billion for the establishment of the NYIF, an initiative of the ministry of youth and sports development, to financially empower youths between 2020 to 2023.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by Mohammed Manga, director, press & public relations, the ministry said beneficiaries whose application was successful must respond to communication to conclude the disbursement process.

According to Manga, less than 14 per cent of the newly shortlisted applicants from the 25,000 successful candidates, who are expected to be part of the loan, have responded to emails confirming their approval to receive the soft loan.

He said that instructions on how to access the funds are contained in the email sent, but expressed worry that the rate of response to the emails has been “quite low.”

It added that those that responded have received their loans.

“The Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development is currently delivering a fresh round of disbursements of the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (#NYIF ) to youth beneficiaries whose applications have been successful,” the statement reads.

“Less than 14% of the newly shortlisted applicants from the over 25,000 successful candidates, who are expected to be part of the loan, have responded to emails confirming their approval to receive the soft loan.

“Instructions on how to access the funds are contained in the email sent. The rate of response to the emails has been quite low.

“However, others who responded have received the funds into their PFI designated bank accounts.

“Shortlisted candidates must respond to communication in order to conclude the disbursement process. Those who fail to respond risk forfeiting this opportunity.

“The Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) is being disbursed to the youth who have expressed business needs within a range of N250,000 to N3m depending on the scale of the business and its evaluation.

“About 6,000 youth benefitted from the first set of disbursements in 2020 and the names of the beneficiaries have since been made public.

“While in the second batch 4,375 have so far responded to their loan offer messages and received their funds.

“The NYIF guidelines and processes remain the same.”

However, some of the beneficiaries commented on the ministry’s official Twitter page, lamenting that they have not received the funds despite responding to the emails.