The Federal Government agreed to give N110 billion for the Youth Development Fund and agriculture businesses.
The Minister of Youth Development, Jamila Ibrahim, said the money will come from different sources, including the Central Bank of Nigeria. This fund will help young people start and grow their businesses.
“We have secured council’s approval for the immediate release of N25bn from the 2023 supplementary Appropriation Act and an additional 25bn from the 2024 Appropriation Act for the Youth Development Fund appropriation in the budget.
“We also received an additional approval from council for a N60bn release from the Central Bank of Nigeria through the agric investment of a small medium enterprises scheme.
“This will go a long way to support young businesses and bring a lot of succour to young persons, to strengthen and scale young businesses,” said Ibrahim.
The Youth Investment Fund, started in 2020, has been improved and renamed the Nigerian Youth Fund.
The government plans to establish clusters in different parts of Nigeria to focus on key industries like cotton and rice production. These clusters will create jobs and boost the economy.
The government also approved a policy to ensure that 30 percent of government appointments go to young people, with a focus on including young women. This is to give young people a voice in decision-making.
Additionally, the government is improving healthcare by aligning funds from different sources to better support primary healthcare centers. This will help provide better healthcare services, especially for children and mothers.
“What we’ve done now is to align and coordinate so that more resources will be directed to our primary health care centres where we’ll have more money to increase the immunisation to children.”
The Federal Executive Council also approved the purchase of advanced CT Scanners for a hospital in Gombe, with plans to provide more equipment to other hospitals in the future.
