Akinwunmi Adeshina, president of the African Development Bank (AfDB) has described empowerment initiatives by Nigerian leaders as ‘freebies’ that may not help propel prosperity and unlock opportunities for teeming Nigerian youths.
Adeshina, speaking on Channels TV on Thursday called on government leaders to focus on capital-focused empowerment to reduce the “Japa Syndrome” that’s causing the country “big loss” and brain-drain.
“Young people don’t need freebies; they have skills, knowledge, and entrepreneurship capacity. They want to turn their ideas into great businesses,” Adeshina said.
“And so what the young people need, it’s not those so-called empowerment programs; they need capital. They need you to put your money at risk on their behalf,” he added.
“We have to put our money behind our young people and create opportunities for them. They don’t need N5,000, N10,000.”
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Nigeria’s youthful population estimated at 160 million or 70 percent of total population are bedeviled by various setbacks such as unemployment, poverty and lack of access to capital.
Adeshina noted that these youths are the “biggest assets” that the nation has and must be prioritized in order to turn them into “economic assets”. But the failure has resulted in many of the young people throng out of the country in search for greener pastures.
The AfDB chief lamented that the financial and commercial banking system has failed young people in Africa who are supposed to serve as demographic assets.
“At the African Development Bank, I led my team to develop what’s called the Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Banks. These are new financial institutions across Africa that do nothing but just support the businesses of young people.
“And they are not cash, they are not deposit-taking banks, they’re investment banks that will allow them to have business support facilities. They will be able to develop their business plans. They will have technical assistance, they will have debt and equity as their businesses grow,” Adeshina said.
Adeshina revealed that the AfDB just approved $100 million to set up the Nigerian Youth Entrepreneurship Investment Bank which will mobilize $2 billion of investment for more than 38,000 businesses of young people in Africa.
He also stated that the Bank together with Unislami Development Bank and others, have a $614 million program called IDICE, an initiative for the development of support for creative enterprises and digital enterprises in Nigeria.
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According to him, this initiative will support almost 300 small businesses of young people in digital and creative enterprises, and probably create about 6 million jobs, and add about $6.4 billion to Nigeria’s economy.
“It’s not just about looking for jobs. Most people want to start their own businesses. Africa has the highest level of entrepreneurship in the world, but they deserve and they need capital to turn those ideas into real viable and competitive businesses,” he said.
