The Plateau State Government on Thursday said it was working closely with the Bank of Industry to secure a matching fund of N2 billion to enable its citizenry have access to low-interest funds to boost their businesses.

This was disclosed by Secretary to the State Government, Hon. Rufus Bature, while flagging off Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme Loan in Jos.

Bature said, “Plateau State Government is also working closely with the Bank of Industry; on securing a matching fund of N2 billion to enable Plateau people have access to low interest funds to boost their businesses.

The Secretary to the Government of the State who was represented by the Permanent Secretary, Policy and General Services, Mr. Richard Tokma, appreciated the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Entrepreneurship Development Centre for partnering with the state government on the aforementioned scheme.

“The government wish to assure you of its commitment to making this partnership work efficiently,” he stressed.

He also advised the participants to take advantage of the training and become self reliant.

In his goodwill message, a Deputy Director with CBN, Mr. Amagwu Frank said, “Between 2015 and now I have employed 40 people from my community; what I could not do as a director, I did it through the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC).

“All I did was to register them with N5, 000 for EDC, the finished the programme and the start business on their own.

Frank further explained that, “Before they get to ten years as micro small businesses, they would have been employing so many people.

According to him, “Our target in Central Bank of Nigeria, is to make sure that the current generation of Nigerian youths, see paid employment as a second alternative. Why is it so?

“Almost every location of NYSC of the three batches they have, produced an average of 12, 000 Corps members; multiply that figure by 37, because there are 36 States plus Abuja, you can see the number, and multiply it by 5 years.

“So if we do not do anything to the unemployment rate; crime will take over the economy”, he warned.

“And it is acceptable that big companies don’t grow anymore; why we say Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), is for you to gravitate to Medium Enterprises, because at that time all the challenges of doing business, you would have surmounted them. So at Micro and Small level, you have growth potential.

He said over 200 youths are benefiting from the first phase here in Plateau, saying if that is sustained, at least, at the end of the year, over 1,000 youths could have been trained and in the next 5 years, at least about 5, 000 youths would have benefited.

“Every EDC now has a mandate to train as many as possible, that are ready for self employment.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the Director General, Plateau State Micro Finance Small and Medium Enterprise Development Agency (PLASMEDA), Mr. Haggai Gutap, said the agency will strive to ensure that the gains of the partnership are felt among the youths and all Micro Small and Medium Enterprises in the state.

“We are, therefore, presenting 280 candidates for the first phase of the intervention.

The Director General was appointed by the CBN as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee of the EDC North Central.

The participating youths cust across the three senatorial zones of the state, which include graduates from tertiary institutions and secondary school leavers.

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PLSG to secure N2 billion matching funds to boost small businesses