News
FG To Collaborate With Mastercard Fund To Create Job Opportunities For Nigerian Youth
Joel Ajayi
The Federal Government has disclosed its intention to collaborate with the Mastercard Foundation Fund for Resilience and Prosperity to create job opportunities for the Nigerian youths focusing on men, women, people living with disabilities, and Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
The Honourable Minister of Youth Development, Dr. Jamila Bio-Ibrahim made the disclosure when she received the Grants, Finance, and Risk management officer of Mastercard Foundation Fund, Abraham Jeff Ndambuki, who paid her a visit in her office in Abuja.
The Minister said the Ministry is focusing on priority sectors of the Federal Government which are Agriculture, Climate Adaption, Digital Economy, Blue-economy, Mining, and Renewable Energy so as to establish young people in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs).
She expressed the preparedness of the Ministry to partner with the Mastercard foundation and advised that participants for the programme should be selected in clusters so that each participant can leverage on the advantage of the others within the same cluster. She posited that this approach would provide greater opportunities for more young entrepreneurs to benefit from the fund.
The Minister promised to provide the foundation with a database of young people who will be beneficiaries and will ensure that the businesses are sustainable and successful.
The Minister further said, *”We are also in the process of designing a framework for the Youth Development Bank. The Youth Investment Fund is in the review process. We want to improve and expand on this programme. We will operationalize the fund. We are well open to ideas on how we can work together and collaborate on those Government priority sectors.”
In his presentation, the Manager Grants, Finance and Risk for the Mastercard Foundation Funds for Prosperity and Resilient, Mr. Ndambuki revealed that the programme had been implemented in 20 African countries, and the Federal Republic of Nigeria is one of them.
He said, *”We have engaged 35 different stakeholders including government officials and the private sector, the programme is in its second phase, the first phase was completed last year, and it lasted for ten years. It was valued at 50 million dollars, and we succeeded in disbursing the entire 50 million dollars across 8 countries.”
Ndambuki further said, “The foundation has come with a second phase and increased the amount to 126 million dollars, which is equivalent to approximately 194 billion naira in today’s rate. The organisation said it would last for the next seven years, so we are now in the first year which is the preliminary stage, that is why we are performing the visibility market research to identify and understand the Nigeria markets.”
He stated that Nigeria is the organisation’s central focus, adding that their presence in the country is to try to identify the key stakeholders they need to partner and engage with as they start the programme this April.
Foreign news
NTAC Hails Tinubu; Volunteers Ready to Positively Impact Nigerians
Joel Ajayi
The Nigerian Technical Aid Corps (NTAC) has commended President Bola Tinubu for funding the Technical Aid Corps (TAC) Scheme.
The Director General (DG) of NTAC , Dr Yusuf Yakub, made the commendation during a ceremony to receive five returning TAC volunteers from Zanzibar, Tanzania on Tuesday in Abuja.
The returning volunteers also expressed readiness to impact knowledge gained from participating in the programme on Nigerians.
TAC is a mechanism for Nigeria’s foreign aid and technical assistance to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries through the use of Nigeria’s abundant trained manpower.
Yakub lauded Tinubu’s visionary leadership and steadfast support for the TAC Scheme.
Welcoming the volunteers who had discharged themselves as worthy ambassadors in Zanzibar, the D-G thanked them for their patriotism, dedication to service and for making Nigeria proud on the international arena.
The NTAC boss highlighted the importance of knowledge-sharing, while announcing that certificates of completion will be presented to the volunteers in line with the noble objectives of the service.
He also emphasised the volunteers’ crucial role in passing on the skills and experiences gained in Zanzibar.
He expressed optimism that their efforts would positively impact the lives of Nigerians across the country and shape the expectations and service-delivery of future prospective volunteers.
Earlier speaking, Amb. Zakari Usman, the Director of Programmes for NTAC, expressed gratitude to the D-G for his unwavering support and provision for the volunteers throughout their service period.
He said that the volunteers had so delivered on the mandate of the agency that citizens of Zanzibar did not want them to leave their country.
Popoola Adegoke, the Team Lead and a Mathematics Instructor for the batch of returning volunteers, was full of gratitude to the Federal Government for providing them the opportunity to participate in the scheme.
Adegoke said that Nigeria, was well blessed and had the abundance of both human and natural resources to contribute meaningfully to the development of many countries of the world.
He said that the need to continue the TAC Scheme was not negotiable, owing to its high impact and results.
Mohammed Salisu, a Physicist, said that the experience had broadened his horizon as his orientation during the last 24 months in Zanzibar, especially on the cultural exchange.
He lauded the government for the scheme, saying that Nigeria is seen and perceived to be higher in all ranking, especially in the standard of living and educational system.
He also appealed to the government to sustain the scheme to close the gaps both the educational and professional systems in the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Countries.
NAN
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