The Managing Director of National Hydro Power Producing Areas Development Commission, N-HYPPADEC, Alhaji Abubakar Sadiq Yelwa, has warned beneficiaries of the Youth Transportation Programme, YTP, that failure to provide guarantor letters will result in withholding of starter packs.
Yelwa gave the warning at a YTP training workshop, held in collaboration with the Corporate Affairs Commission, CAC, in Minna, Niger State.
He said the measure was adopted to prevent beneficiaries from selling their starter kits immediately after receiving them.
The MD noted that against this background, the Commission decided to approach the CAC to ensure that each beneficiary’s business is formally registered at no cost to them as the Commission had secured a discount rate of 50 percent to register their businesses.
“By requiring a guarantor’s letter, the Commission seeks to ensure that beneficiaries take ownership of their businesses and utilize the resources provided adequately.
“So far over 70 percent of the beneficiaries have presented their guarantor letters while others are yet to do so. If they fail to submit their letters, we will not give them their kits,” he stated.
Yelwa explained that so far about 5,000 youths selected from the six N-HYPPADEC member states of Niger, Kwara, Benue, Plateau, Kogi and Kebbi had been trained in various skills and are awaiting the disbursement of starter packs.
He explained that the Commission decided to intervene in providing meaningful sources of livelihood for youths in the member states after it carried out a risk assessment exercise in 2021 and discovered that youth unemployment is a time bomb.
The MD further disclosed that the Commission, alongside the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, and the National Board for Technical Education, NBTE, trained the youths in 32 different skills.