Reps support Youth Entrepreneurship Development Fund bill

The House of Representatives, on Wednesday, expressed support for the passage of the Bill which seeks to establish Youth Entrepreneurship Development Trust Fund as part of ongoing efforts aimed at tackling the menace of unemployment and underemployment in the country.

The lawmakers expressed support during the debate on the general principles of the private member bill, sponsored by Hon Farah Dagogo.

In his lead debate, Hon Dagogo explained that the proposed legislation when assented to by Mr President would not only stem the ugly trend of unemployment and underemployed citizens but also provide financial succour for the teeming Nigerian youths that could galvanise and bolster the country’s failing economy.

While describing the Nigerian youth population as paramount, he assured that the proposed legislation would provide a vehicle for assured socio-economic security for them, ensure reduced unemployment, diminish social vices and produce a confident and global worthy citizen in the average Nigerian youth.

According to him, “This Bill to me, is one of the catalysts that would stem the tide of some of the hostilities, we are currently experiencing in this Nation, especially from the youths of our great country, who represent about half of our entire population and over 40 per cent of whom are currently unemployed or under-employed, but are no doubt referred to as the emerging leaders of the nation.

“This bill seeks to create a Fund which shall be used to provide financial support for Nigerian youths with entrepreneurship skills, and provide a vehicle for assured socio-economic security as well as galvanise them to become self-reliant, employers of labour and captains of industry.

“The ‘Youth Fund’ will not only diminish unemployment and the social vices that characterise the Nigerian society today but would also serve as a strong indicator that the country is very particular about its youths and has them in its plan.

“The Nigerian state needs to protect its own – the youth – who arguably constitutes more than half of the country’s population and are the future leaders. There is no gainsaying that the youth have been obliterated; we have a colony of them suffering from unemployment or underemployment and the state is aware and not oblivious of this fact.

“Year in and out, thousands of Nigerian youths are churned out of tertiary institutions but the state does not have enough carrying capacity to empty them into. This is indeed a big challenge because the idle mind would always be the devil’s workshop.

“This fact has led to the tendency of crimes and criminality in the society. This bill intends to cure those ills,” he noted.

In other to ensure adequate funding and transparency of the management process, he said: “We are proposing that sources of revenue would not be less than five per cent of the capital estimates in the Appropriation Act of every year and profits accruing periodically from approved investments made out of the capital in the Youth Fund.

“We are also bringing in private entities to contribute to the Youth Fund. Consequently and mandatorily, they would contribute about one per cent of profit as declared and other revenue legitimately accruing to the Fund by means not provided for in the bill.

“Importantly, the Youth Fund shall be managed by the youths, thus, they would people the Board. There would be fiscal responsibility that engenders transparency and accountability because relevant sections in the Bill have been proposed to address these issues,” he noted.

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Reps support Youth Entrepreneurship Development Fund bill