Sunday Dare’s NYIF N75bn Hidden Empowerment, Civil Society Calls for Probe
Time and Investment works together. After due process, many beneficiaries are yet to receive their money.
A civil society under the aegis of Nigeria Citizens Action Group (NCAG) calls on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to probe the immediate past Honourable Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, over the alleged mismanagement and misapplication of N75B Nigeria Youth Investments Fund (NYIF).
According to Comrade Salahudeen Lukman, the Executive Director of Societal Safety Network (SSN) on Friday, probing Dare will resuscitate the belief that the president is not being selective in his fight against corruption in the country.
He said, “obviously President Bola Ahmed Tinubu GCFR must prove his commitment to stamp out corruption in his administration likewise establish the ongoing probe of Mr Godwin Emefiele, the former Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and Mr Abdulrasheed Bawa of Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) was never a political vendetta.
“He should order immediate arrest, investigation and prosecution of Mr Sunday Dare , the immediate past Minister of Youth and Sport Development over alleged mismanagement and misapplication of N75B Nigeria Youth Investments Fund.
“This was a fund targeted to develop Nigeria youth Small and Medium Scale Enterprises, this was sadly turned into a family and friend gift. For poor supervision, mismanagement and misapplication of such huge funds, we doubt if the ministry can account for said fund at the moment.
“Latest information revealed how disbursement was resumed for cover-up purposes, to people without a defined business plan nor qualifications. All in an effort to capture more names to enlist as beneficiaries of the fund already mismanaged and misapplied.
“We objectively call on President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to order the probe of Mr Sunday Dare and investigation into this fund utilization by EFCC, ICPC and other anti-graft agencies, and until this is done, Mr Sunday Dare should not be offer any national appointment else Nigeria citizens shall act accordingly within the confine of the law to repel such an affront.
“We remain optimistic that president Tinubu shall yield to our call between now and 14 working days which shall mark an end to our ultimatum before commencement of civil rights action which includes a World Press Conference and a protest to EFCC headquarters to submit a petition on said matter.”
What Is NYIF and its Status?
NYIF is an abbreviation which stands for Nigeria Youth Investments Fund. It was launched around 2019 – 2020 when President Muhammadu Buhari signed the approval of 75bn fund for the scheme.
The NYIF scheme was the idea of Sunday Dare and was championed by the ministry he headed.
The Sunday Dare NYIF idea was to provide loans (between 250,000 to 3,000,000) to small businesses run by youths within the country so as to empower them. They are expected to pay back with just 5% interest.
Federal Executive Council (FEC) had released the fund and the motion was set by Sunday Dare to empower the first 10,000 Nigerians in 2020 through NYIF,the Ministry said.
In just a week of launching the empowerment scheme, over 1,000,000 Nigerians were recorded to have registered.
The ministry also at some point complained that candidates who have been shortlisted but didn’t reply to some of their emails to finalise their shortlisting may be disqualified for the loan.
With nothing coming out as to whether the loan has been disbursed, in 2021 – 2022 Sunday Dare said another 25,000 Nigerians would be beneficiaries of the loan.
A search and skip through the article that noted this on the ministry’s website found over 50 comments with more than 30 of them full of complaints about not receiving the loan. Many of them are applicants from 2020, 2021 and some were among the 10,000 first shortlisted candidates.
Adeyinka Adelani wrote “Honorable Sir, please help urge the NPFMFB (Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank) to make the onward disbursement of funds to the beneficiaries very fast. Time and Investment works together. After due process, many beneficiaries are yet to receive their money. Thanks in anticipation.” Comment dated back to 2022.
Papilo wrote, “I SMELL INJUSTICES.”
Dickson Ayogu, “Why has NPF MICROFINANCE Refused to disburse the loan”
Ajekiigbe Ajibade Micheal, “the thing is getting out hands (sic) now since 2020 after approval no disbursements from NMFB Act fast on it not to damage your reputation.”
Eruejerien Victoria, “I was trained on the 19th of november 2021 but i don’t receive text message or email concerning approval what is my faith (fate)?.”
Sanusi Ismail Ademola, “I have registered and several mails have been sent but still, i haven’t heard anything about the loan status anymore.”
Muhammad Sani Abubakar “Batch: 2nd Batch I finish my trainning since January and I sign all the attendace form but till now I did not recieve my certificate. And the NYIF portal is showing me that I was not been trained.”
Unwana jimmy, “Since early September 2020 i register for this fund, i have attend training but nothing to show, i try myself and start a business just a loan to expand my business which i will pay back according to agreement. Pls i need the loan.”
Ugwuja George, “Are there accountability processes in place to make sure those that benefit are the most qualified and what is the monitoring and evaluation frameworks setup to track disbursement and utilization?.”
Sadiq, “Is there any hope for the remaining applicants that doesn’t receive a text message concerning the disbursement.? Because we are part of the 10k successful applicants and done the training successfully. But yet receive any message please response which I hope will be soon thank. God bless FMYSD.”
Chiroma Samari, “Is a big lie. NPFMFB has refused to pay the beneficiary funds.”
Abbas Abubakar Song, “we are shortlisted and we accepted the offer with NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE MICROFINANCE BANK but we are yet to receive our money.
“One thing about it is the day we accepted the offer will start reading for the repayment,if the bank delay the payment then time will pass and we’ll have little time for replacement.”
Ajibade dauda, “the honourable minister sir what about 10,000 shortlisted applicants last year and trained but yet to hear anything since after the training sir.”
AWOTIKU ODUNAYO, “Please am shortlisted and I accept the offer letter from NPFMFB and I haven’t received any thing please.”
To this end, more comments trail in the website as activists keep asking questions about how the 75bn fund was spent; the Honourable Minister Sunday Dare has been as tacit as his past office.
Are you a beneficiary of this scheme, share with us. We will like to hear from you via pijalance@gmail.com?
Read Also: Cheetah: Sunday Dare Steals the Thunder of Tobi Amusan
Jimoh Taofik
Taofik is a Mass Communication lecturer, trained journalist, freelancer, editor, researcher, corporate communications and public relations expert. He has Higher National Diploma (HND) in Mass Communication from the Federal Polytechnic, Offa, Kwara State and currently a Bsc student in the same discipline at Summit University, Offa, Kwara State. Taofik teaches Mass Communication at the Polytechnic, Ojoku, Kwara State. He is a guest-contributor for PIJAlance Magazine.
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