YOUWIN Launch, A Wasteful Venture?

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Submitted by LEADERSHIP EDITORS on December 6, 2011 - 3:47am

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• JOHN OBA

John Oba, writes that no amount of publicity will justify the launch of the YOUWIN project as  inconsistency of government policies on job creation for the teeming unemployed youth have made nonsense of it.

Now, will it be safe to ask if Nigeria is a country where leaders are bereaved of ideas and have easily lost focus when faced with challenges that tasked reasoning and intellectual ability? This accounts for why government at various levels in Nigeria have not been able to find solution to the problem of youth unemployment despite huge resources at its disposal.

The recent launch of YOUWIN by President Goodluck Jonathan has further confirmed the inconsistency in government policy once there is a change of leadership at any level of governance. This has been the bane of the nation’s progress in virtually every aspect of life because in public policy process, action is the path to sustainable governance in any country. But this realistic precept is what is missing in this present administration especially in terms of job creation for the teeming unemployed youth.
The Youth Enterprise with Innovation in Nigeria (You WiN!) Programme is a collaboration of the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology (CT), and the Ministry of Youth Development that will launch an annual Business Plan Competition (BPC) for aspiring young entrepreneurs in Nigeria, in line with the Federal Government’s drive to create more jobs for Nigerians. The programme will be implemented in partnership with Nigeria’s private sector, who will be requested to provide support funding. Even though N50 billion is already earmarked for this in the 2011 budget.

The main objective of the You WiN! programme according to the president is to generate jobs by encouraging and supporting aspiring entrepreneurial youth in Nigeria to develop and execute business ideas that will lead to job creation. The programme will provide aspiring youth with a platform to show case their business acumen, skills and aspirations to business leaders, investors and mentors in Nigeria.

It is also to attract ideas and innovations from young entrepreneurial aspirants from universities, polytechnics, technical colleges, and other post-secondary institutions in Nigeria. Provide a one time equity grant for 1,200 selected aspiring entrepreneurs to start or expand their business concepts and mitigate start up risks. Generate 40,000 to 50,000 new jobs for currently unemployed Nigerian youth over the three years during which the three cycles will be implemented. Provide business training for up to 6,000 aspiring youth entrepreneurs spread across all geo-political zones in Nigeria.

Encourage expansion, specialisation and spin-offs of existing businesses in Nigeria, and enable young entrepreneurs to access a wide business professional network and improve their visibility.

On the YouWiN website, it is said to be an equity contribution to business and not a loan but a grant. Award recipients will be paid according to the needs of the business and specific mile-stones stated in the business plan. Award recipients also must be registered before disbursement of funds even though they do not need registration to apply. YouWiN will support the registration process. Recipients will operate accounts using their registered companies, with any of the participating commercial banks prior to disbursement. Recipients must also sign a grant agreement with the managers of YouWin before disbursement of funds.

Looking critically at the project and the level of underdevelopment among the Nigeria youth, it is certain that this project is for the elite youth which constitute an insignificant per centage of the Nigeria youth. Also, all these will amount to wasteful venture if the efforts of previous governments are abandoned instead of building upon them. For instance, the government of late President Umar Musa Yar’Adua which has President Jonathan as the vice president in its efforts to find solution to the problem of unemployment approved the National Youth Employment Action Plan (NIYEAP 2009 - 2011) produced by the Ministry of Youth Development in accordance to the recommendation of the United Nations to provide a mutil-sectoral strategy for creation of jobs for millions of our unemployed youth. It was adopted as a basis for material response to the youth unemployment question.

To simplify the process of implementation of this action plan by the government and the private sectors, the Ministry of Youth Development again went further, under the leadership of its then minister, Senator Akinlabi Olasunkanmi, and under the same administration of President Yar’Adua and Goodluck to create the Nation Youth Job Creation Templates which was related to the NIYEAP as it seek to practically demonstrate the process of job creation according to sectors, cost and total number of jobs possible with identified timelines.

This was the first of its kind in the history of Nigeria, the review of this shows that if government had persist in implementing this templates using agencies like the Industrial trust Fund (ITF), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), SMEDAN and private sectors, as suggested in the document, youth unemployment in the country would have been reduced by 70 per cent since the approval of that document. Because, this would have seen these agencies of government at all levels and the private sector creating jobs for over 20 million Nigeria youths within four years at a cost relatively lower than the N50 billion in 2011 budget about to be wasted on YOUWIN.

Both documents’ design and implementation strategies are tailored towards giving the youth at every level the opportunity to find decent and productive jobs and promote equal opportunities, employability, entrepreneurship and job creation for all young people. This was applauded by both local and international youth experts, especially the UN, AU and Commonwealth Organisations.

These documents also recommends the preventive and curative policies to address youth unemployment in Nigeria. The preventive measure it stated, will be for the government to increase the demand for labour, improve economic growth performance, provision of information and counseling to youths and reforms of the educational and training system. While the curative policies it said should include promotion of public work programmes, strengthening of micro-facilities, provision of special incentives for businesses that employ youths, improve the functioning of the labour market and the creation of a more effective, efficient and proactive public employment services. The youth job creation template addresses the curative policies much more than the preventive.

The template shows the sector, sub-sectors and job categories and other related parameters the cost of job per head, numbers of jobs proposed per local government area and nationwide, these the government would have implemented, and monitor to ensure it is fully implemented.

All the government has to do would be to invest in education and vocational training of young people and elaborating strategies to enhance the impact of these investments. Give young men and women equal opportunities, make it easier to start and run enterprises in order to provide more and better jobs for young people while putting job creation at the centre of governments macroeconomic policy and encouraging active participation of youth in programme design and implementation which will better enhance the creative ability of the youth rather than this present YOUWIN that will make youth to consult consultant just to get the money, or that would serve as another avenue for politicians to make more money and further encouraging nepotism.

Then, the government stated that it was fulfilling the proposal in the National Youth Policy which state among other things that the government must develop and implement a comprehensive programme for youth socialisation so that they can become good and productive citizens. Provide opportunities for youths, whether in, or out of school, for vocational training geared towards self-employment and self-reliance, while also Involving youths in decision making at all levels of government in all matters affecting them.

It is disappointing that a government that promised to create employment for its youth could think of nothing but to go into given of money to few people appointed by politician in the name of entrepreneurship looking away from such a rich masterpiece on entrepreneurship that would afford the common Nigeria youth no matter their level of education acquire skill that would require just little amount of capital to start off with minimum start up risk.

It is even more disappointing that the ministry of youth development that author such intellectual and well articulated job template policies could so soon lost focus by not calling the attention of the president to it and starting the process of its implementation to show its seriousness and foresightedness. The effort of the former administration is now left to die as usual.

Ideally, entrepreneurship development initiatives for youth should span a comprehensive set of measures that makes it easier for young people to start and run their own business. Starting a business or engaging in self-employment is increasingly seen as part of a strategy to address the youth employment challenge.

However, an average young person find it difficult than adults to engage in business because they have less capital in the form of skills, knowledge and experience so no matter the amount given to such youth in this type of Nigeria hash business environment, with appropriate skills and training by the government through it agencies will be enough to successful settle without wastage. It is therefore imperative that the government focus it attention at implementing the job creation template since this will going far in solving the problem of unemployment among the young people in Nigeria