You – Win Beneficiaries Storm APC, Ministry Of Finance Hqtrs …Demand Payment Of Grants

Winners of the third edition of the Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria Programme ( You – Win ) yesterday stormed the headquarters of both the Federal Ministry of Finance and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC in Abuja
The visibly angry youths , who came in hundreds carrying placards accused the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun and other top officials of the ministry of frustrating the release of their grants, which they said had remained unpaid for about a year.
The You Win programme is an innovative competition aimed at job creation by encouraging and supporting aspiring youths to develop and execute good business ideas.
Speaking to journalists during the protest, some of the affected entrepreneurs in the YouWin 3 programme accused the Federal Government of reneging on its promise to ensure that their businesses receive a substantial boost .
According to them , each beneficiary was expected to receive between N10million and N20million to commence a business.
The protesters described the development as frustrating as it was negatively affecting the businesses, which the initial grant was used to set up in 2014 when their proposals were approved by the Federal Government.
Meanwhile,the Federal Ministry of Finance through the Director of information, Hassan Dodo promised to address grievances raised by participants in the YouWin! Connect Programme.
The Ministry said it would soon update all stakeholders on the next phases of the YouWin! Connect programme and further pointed out that such clarification became necessary because many participants in the programme had sought information on how their businesses could be supported, having completed the second phase of the YouWin Connect Capacity Building.
It would be recalled that the You Win Programme started empowerment of youths in 2012 and on assumption of office, the present government under President Muhammadu Buhari reviewed and restructured the YouWin Programme to YouWin Connect with a promise to place emphasis on enterprise education as catalyst for business success.

Nneka Amaechi-Nnadi, Abuja