In obedience to President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive that all his cabinet return to their constituency, Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed has visited Kaduna.
While speaking to 77 district heads and religious leaders in Kaduna, she explained how the Federal Government will begin disbursing the N75b entrepreneurship youth support fund.
Ahmed said that youths will have access to interest-free loans between N250,000 and N5 million.
“The amount accessible to each beneficiary would be dependent on their business idea, proposal and their repayment plan. The interest-free loan is expected to be paid back to the Government within the period of five years,” she said.
She further stated that the meeting was to come up with ways to help the youths in light of the looting that followed the End SARS protests.
She appealed to religious leaders and traditional leaders to sensitize families on the need to instill values, saying that they (parents) had failed the youths.
“We are calling on the attention of parents that we have failed our children in the sense that the kind of value we use to have is no more. We need to remind ourselves that our children need to be upright and that this criminality going on a daily basis are not for their benefits and the benefit of the state and country.”
The Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammed Mahmoud Abubakar, also used the occasion to call on stakeholders to put hands on deck in supporting the government in the discharge of its duties of protecting lives, property and also in job creations.
He said youths should be self-reliant by focusing on skills acquisition and not to be over-dependent on the government.
