Ministry denies alleged misappropriation of NYIF’s N75 billion

The Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, yesterday, denied reports that it had misappropriated N75 billion meant for the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF).

In a statement by its Director (Media), Mallam Manga Mohammed, the ministry described the report as coming from “a mere press release deriving from a frivolous petition that contained fallacious claims and unfounded allegations.”

It added: “For the records, approval for NYIF was for N25 billion annually for three years, amounting to N75 billion. 2021 is the first year and less than N3 billion has been released. 

“Under this first phase disbursed by the NIRSAL Microfinance Bank, 5,285 beneficiaries got soft loans with a total value of N1,661,370,000.00. The amount represents 55.38 per cent of the N3 billion provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) for the first phase. 

“The total number of undisbursed and unqualified applicants for the phase stood at 769 valued at N599, 485,000.

“Of this numbers, 322 are yet to accept the loan offer, 26 failed Nigeria Uniform Bank Account Number (NUBA), 149 failed payment, one applicant rejected the loan offer and 587 are yet to apply for the loan via the NMFB loan application portal.”

The ministry said names of beneficiaries of the loan scheme have been published on its website and in some newspapers.

“The ministry had transparently declared that some applicants were not qualified for loan disbursement because they did not provide valid or correct contact details for communication on further steps in their application; applicant has existing AGSMEIS or COVID-19 Loan and that an applicant is older than 35 years old, which puts them beyond the age bracket for youth.”

According to the ministry, some other applicants are disqualified because they either have poor credit rating or currently have non-performing loans. Others, it said, failed to provide valid BVN and provided incomplete or incorrect BVN.

“Beneficiaries and applicants have been consistently reminded that the NYIF disburses repayable loans to the youth and not grants”, it added.