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| President Goodluck Jonathan |
* Inspects YouWin beneficiaries, products
By Muhammad Bello
The federal government has reiterated that the era of
god-fatherism as a pathway to success and achievement is no longer tenable as
it is providing a level playing ground for all citizens to realise their dreams
with the full support of the government.
President Goodluck Jonathan stated this Wednesday when he
inspected the display of some Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria
(YouWin) products by selected beneficiaries of the programme at the State House
before the weekly Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting.
The products on display included locally-fabricated V-SAT,
designed and sewn clothes, cake made from cassava, oil from cassava and
preserved Moringa tea.
YouWin is expected to disburse a total of N9.6 billion to
beneficiaries in four batches. So far, the sum of about N7
billion has been disbursed to the 1,200 beneficiaries in the first phase. There
is still outstanding N2.6 billion yet to be disbursed. Each awardee, whose
business plan was approved, got grants ranging from one to N10 million.
According to the president, it is imperative that government
constitute a virile society where hope thrives and the youth
are given leverage to realise their potentials without waiting to gain the
support of some highly placed persons in the society.
This, he posited, would open a new vista for the citizens,
uplift the spirits of the youths and foster commitment to the ideals of
patriotism, stressing that that is what his administration has been working
towards, especially with its multi-million naira lifeline to enterprising
youths who have demonstrated their ability to contribute their quota to
national development.
“The country should be the god-father of everybody. The
government should be the god-father of every Nigerian and we will continue to
encourage the young people. We must build a society where our young people will
see a different Nigeria, see a Nigeria they would believe in, a Nigeria they
would have a high degree of patriotism for, a Nigeria that would also protect
them. And that is what we are doing,”
Jonathan remarked.
Explaining the concept of YouWin, the president said: “It is
to build entrepreneurs that will start from the scratch to develop business
skills and grow it to a larger business in the world.”
Observing that many eminent personalities whose names are
business brand both nationally and internationally today, started their
businesses in a modest way, the president said: “Very few people get into their
business in a big way but most times, they collapse because they didn’t know
how to grow businesses.”
Jonathan applauded the productivity of the YouWin
beneficiaries, saying: “We are quite impressed by what you have done so far.
The skills, some of you displayed, looking at the background of what you
are doing, showed the spirit of YouWin.”
Noting that some of them may have studied law, engineering
or biochemistry in their various schools, he said embracing the YOU-WIN
programme had made them ‘fantastic entrepreneurs’.
The president singled out Binta Shuaibu, an Ahmadu Bello University
trained biochemist, who has ventured into
fashion designer saying:
“The young lady who showed us some designs is a biochemist
but she has now won awards in fashion designing and that is the spirit.
Binta offered to design clothes for the president and his
wife in the future.
Jonathan also encouraged other beneficiaries who presented
his portrait photographs, saying: “We congratulate you .On behalf of the
Federal Executive Council and indeed the federal government, we promise you
that we will keep to our faith of encouraging young Nigerians,” assuring that:
“you don’t need god fathers.”
In her presentation of the products and beneficiaries, the
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Dr Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, said the beneficiaries brought their products, which were
already on sale to her and requested to show it to the president and she
obliged them.
“Mr. President I present to you a cross section of the 1,
200 winners of the YOU-WIN who had so far created 16,000 jobs,” she said to the
admiration of the members of the FEC and other government officials.
She urged banks to also contribute to financing their
ventures as she emphasised that “they do not only get the grants, they are also
getting mentored and advised. We have business people who are advising them and
they are working with each other.
“We are encouraging them to get bigger. Obviously,
government is not going to continue financing them. We have given them the
first grant. They have shown their ability to sell products. None of them
complained. They said they have the market and some of them are thinking big.
You know that they are going to expand and export to the neighbouring
countries.”
She also complemented them for their synergy and cooperation
as entrepreneurs, pointing out that they are even patronising one another by
making inputs into their products.
Highlight of the occasion was the cutting of a cake made by
one of the beneficiaries by President Jonathan.
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