Buhari battles leadership failure, launches self-campaign of interventions for youth empowerment

President Muhammadu Buhari is battling with leadership failures of his administration in the past five years that have not only caused hardship on the Nigerian people but further triggered unprecedented crime surge in the country. The crime wave in the north from the east to the west and the central has been embarrassing. The killing of 110 farmers in Borno State by the Boko Haram terrorists the federal government claimed have been technically defeated exposed the magnitude and failures and the many lies of the Buhari administration and the All-Progressives Congress (APC). Apparently, President Buhari is currently struggling to acquaint Nigerians of the youth’s empowerment interventionist policies he had implemented, though, most of which were mere propaganda. While funds were declared to have been disbursed in billions of naira, genuine beneficiaries were only seen in the television screens, particularly, on NTA screens and not on the streets.

However, the Special Adviser to the President, Media and Publicity, Femi Adesina, last Friday in a statement declared that the Muhammadu Buhari administration has always had youths as centerpiece of its policies.

Adesina indicated that “here is a brief compendium of some initiatives put in place, for Nigerian youths to reposition and empower them:

1. N-Power: 500,000 enrolled in 2 batches between 2016 and 2020 receiving N30,000 monthly, with enrolment of 3rd batch of 400,000 in progress.
2. NYSC Monthly Allowanceincreased from N19,600 to N33,000; more than 300,000 beneficiaries monthly.
3. N75 billion Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF),for businesses owned by young Nigerians aged between 18 and 35: https://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2020/CCD/NYIF%20implementation%20Framework%20final%20Sept_30_2020.pdf
4. Special Public Works Programmeto provide 3-month employment to 774,000 young Nigerians across the country (1,000 beneficiaries per LGA): https://specialpublicworks.gov.ng/site/
5. $20 million Fund for Nigerian Tech Innovators and Entrepreneurs, managed by BOI: https://www.boi.ng/
6. National Young Farmers Scheme: An initiative of the National Agricultural Land Development Authority (NALDA) to engage 1.000 youths in each of the 774 local government areas in mechanized agriculture: https://www.nalda.ng/#FAQ
7. The Accelerated Agricultural Development Scheme (AADS) by the CBN aims to engage a minimum of 370,000 youths in agricultural production across the country, over the next three years, in collaboration with State Governments. The goal is to facilitate increased private sector agricultural production of staple foods and industrial raw materials, as well as support food security, job creation and economic diversification. Prospective participants must provide evidence of capacity to engage youths as in-growers or out-growers to cultivate on the land after clearing. cbn.gov.ng/Out/2020/DFD/GUIDELINES%20FOR%20THE%20P-AADS.pdf
8. Creative Industries Financing Initiative (CIFI): An initiative of the CBN in collaboration with the Bankers’ Committee, to provide single-digit financing for the creative sector, as part of efforts to boost job creation in Nigeria. The initiative has four pillars, namely: i. Fashion ii. Information Technology iii. Movie iv. Music. https://www.cbn.gov.ng/out/2019/ccd/creative%20industry%20financing.pdf
9. DEEL – D – Digital Skills E – Entrepreneurship E – Employability L – Leadership. Targeting more than 500,000 young Nigerians with opportunities for training and entrepreneurship and leadership: https://noya.ng/initiatives/new-deel.aspx
10. NESP-Homes: The Mass Housing Strategy of the Nigeria Economic Sustainability Plan (NESP) envisages the creation of 1.8 million jobs starting with the construction of 300,000 homes in the next 12 months, using 100% locally sourced materials for construction. https://nesp.ng/document/Jobs.pdf
11. The 5M Solar Connections Programme, to expand access to 25 million Nigerians by providing 5 million new connections through the provision of Solar Home Systems, or construction and operation of mini-grids. The Programme will incentivise the creation of 250,000 new jobs – particularly for young people – in the energy sector.https://www.cbn.gov.ng/Out/2020/DFD/Solar%20Connections%20Facility%20Guidelines%201.0.pdf
12. The Energizing Education Programme (EEP)is an initiative of the Federal Government of Nigeria to provide clean power supply to 37 Federal Universities and 7 University Teaching Hospitals across Nigeria (independent power plant, street lighting, development of a world class training centre on renewable energy for each university, etc). Phase 1 has already commenced to deliver 28.5MW to 9 Federal Universities and 1 University Teaching Hospital, using solar hybrid and/or gas-fired captive power plants. https://eep.rea.gov.ng/about-eep/
13. Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme (P-YES),to address the needs of unskilled and less educated youth, by targeting areas of activities that are of practical importance and are essential to every aspect of our economy, including agriculture and food processing, restaurant and catering, tailoring and fashion design, welding, carpentry and joinery, etc.
14. Annual National MSME Awards: https://msmeclinics.com.ng/award-categories/
15. The National Survival Fund, designed to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 on businesses, including but not limited to the following: Free business name registration for 250,000 beneficiaries; One-off Payment of N30,000 to more than 300,000 artisans nationwide; and Payroll support of between N30,000 and N50,000 per staff for between 3 (minimum) and 10 (maximum) staff of qualifying MSMEs, for 3 months. http://survivalfund.gov.ng/
16. 52% of loans disbursed by the FG-owned Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) in 2019 were to youths and women-owned businesses. Since 2017, when the bank began operations, the DBN has disbursed more than N150 billion through the bank’s 27 Participating Financial Institutions (PFIs), impacting close to 100,000 MSMEs. Development Bank of Nigeria PLC.