The federal government on Tuesday hosted the NiYA Startup Grant 2.0 award ceremony and officially launched NiYA Gigs, marking a major step in building an economy where no young person is left behind. The event highlighted a renewed push to equip young Nigerians with digital skills, business support, and access to global opportunities through a growing set of youth-focused programmes.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu restated that empowering Nigeria’s youth remains a “deeply personal” priority of his administration. Speaking at the launch of the second edition of the Nigeria Youth Academy (NiYA) Startup Grants and the unveiling of the NiYA Gig digital-work platform in Abuja, the President, represented by his Chief of Staff, Hon Femi Gbajabiamila, said youth empowerment is central to the nation’s future and the engine of his Renewed Hope Agenda. He explained that the government is committed to ensuring that young Nigerians are not left out of national development efforts.
“From the earliest days of this administration, I made a firm decision that Nigeria’s youth will not stand on the margins of our national development. This commitment is not political; it is personal,” he said. The President noted ongoing reforms to expand opportunities for youth-led enterprises, such as easing tax compliance for small businesses, incentivising the digital and creative economy, and building a strong pipeline of young global service providers through the NiYA Academy, NiYA Startup, NiYA Jobs, and the newly launched NiYA Gigs. He also commended the Ministry of Youth Development for widening the programme’s reach after the debut edition recorded more than 14,000 applications across the country.
Earlier at the event, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, said the administration is constructing a comprehensive youth-empowerment ecosystem that covers skills acquisition, enterprise creation, and income generation. He announced grants of N1 million each for 200 youth-led startups and N500,000 each for 100 beneficiaries in the informal sector, describing the funds as “not loans, but fuel for your journey.” He added that the goal is to support young Nigerians who are ready to create and grow sustainable businesses.
He also launched NiYA Gig, a national digital-work platform created to link young Nigerians to paid opportunities both locally and globally. Olawande highlighted the progress of initiatives such as the Nigerian Youth Help Desk and a WhatsApp AI Chatbot that has already engaged more than one million young people. “NiYA Gigs, our new national digital work platform which we also unveiled today, now opens unlimited global job opportunities for Nigerian youth in the fast-growing outsourcing and digital service economy. Combined with NiYA Academy and NiYA Jobs, we have built a complete ecosystem that takes a young person from learning to building and to earning. This is how we create a generation that does not wait for the future, but builds it.” He further appreciated the programme’s partners, saying, “I thank all our partners; Dubai Digital School, Sapphital, FIRS, NEXIM Bank, Providus Bank, and others, for walking this journey with us. Together, we have strengthened the Nigerian Youth HelpDesk, expanded our digital support systems, and unlocked new pathways for innovation, creativity, and employment.”
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, said the Federal Government is preparing Nigeria’s youthful population for global competition by investing in digital infrastructure, skills training, and innovation. “Nigeria’s youth are our demographic advantage. With proper preparation, young Africans will make up 25 percent of the world’s workforce by 2050,” he said. He noted that expanded broadband access and automation will help young Nigerians export digital services without leaving the country.
Also speaking, Minister of State for Finance, Doris Uzoka-Anite Udoka, said ongoing financial-sector reforms will ease access to credit, expand concessional loans, strengthen tax incentives, and improve digital infrastructure for youth-led MSMEs. “These initiatives are deliberately designed to stimulate entrepreneurship and deepen the creativity that defines the Nigerian spirit,” she said.
In a goodwill message, the Director-General of the National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA), Kashifu Inuwa Abdullahi, described the country’s digitally fluent young population as a major national asset. “Our human capital, our talent, is our new oil,” he said, noting that more than 70 percent of Nigeria’s 230 million citizens are under 18.
Special Adviser to the President on Policy Coordination, Hadiza Bala Usman, said achieving President Tinubu’s ambition of a 1 trillion dollar economy depends on unlocking the full potential of Nigeria’s youth. She added that planned reforms to the National Youth Service Corps will help turn the scheme into a launchpad for future-oriented careers.
Speakers at the event agreed that Nigeria’s economic future will be driven by the skills, creativity, and enterprise of its young population, with the government constructing a national empowerment framework to help them rise.
