The Federal Government has said it will complete the onboarding of the remaining 8 million beneficiaries under the Youth Economic Intervention and De-Radicalisation Programme (YEIDEP) within the first quarter of 2026, a move expected to bring the total number of beneficiaries in the programme’s first phase to 20 million.
The disclosure was made during a recent stakeholders’ engagement where officials of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development outlined timelines for the programme and emphasised that the completion of onboarding remains a priority ahead of full-scale implementation activities scheduled for 2026. The meeting brought together government partners and programme coordinators to review progress already recorded across the country nationwide efforts.
Speaking on the timeline, the Minister of Youth Development, Ayodele Olawande, said “the remaining eight million beneficiaries would be onboarded within the first quarter of 2026, completing the first phase.” He explained that the phased structure of YEIDEP was designed to ensure that implementation is orderly, transparent, and properly monitored across participating institutions. He added that the programme would be implemented carefully to avoid gaps and duplication during execution at national and subnational levels across all regions of the country.
Olawande also noted that significant groundwork had already been done, stating that “the past year had been deliberately devoted to planning, stakeholder coordination, and beneficiary onboarding, noting that effective preparation was critical to successful execution.” According to him, the focus on preparation is meant to strengthen delivery and reduce errors as the programme scales. He said the approach supports accountability and proper tracking of beneficiaries nationwide at every stage process.
The programme further noted that “2026 implementation phase is expected to mark a transition from planning to impact delivery,” indicating that completing onboarding early in the year is central to meeting programme objectives and ensuring that beneficiaries are fully captured before subsequent stages commence across participating sectors and regions nationwide.
Earlier, YEIDEP Coordinator-General, Kennedy Iyere, said the programme “has completed its planning and system-development phase and is now positioned for large-scale rollout aimed at delivering measurable outcomes for young Nigerians,” reinforcing confidence in meeting the Q1 onboarding timeline as scheduled nationally.
