Plateau State Government has announced an increase in its youth empowerment fund to N4bn to provide loans for young people to start businesses.
The Commissioner for Youths, Musa Ashoms, disclosed this on Monday during a youth empowerment programme held at the Federal Youth Centre in Jos North Local Government Area.
“During the inauguration of this training, we mentioned raising a supplementary budget of N2bn,” Ashoms said.
“Just two days ago, we met with young people to discuss the Plateau Building Agency. We brought in 302 youths to the Citizenship and Leadership Training Centre, and they had an interface with the governor. He announced a package where a bank is willing to give us N2bn, and the government will provide counterpart funding of N2bn, making it N4bn, so that we can give our young people loans to start businesses,” he added.
The commissioner explained that the initiative, under the Plateau Youth Employment and Skill Acquisition programme, aims to equip young people with practical skills in ICT, leather works, and fashion design.
“We’ve trained them in ICT, leather works, and fashion design. We hope they will return to their communities and make an impact. We’ve given them starter packs and seed capital to help them set up businesses in their communities,” Ashoms said.
He also praised Governor Caleb Mutfwang for releasing the state’s counterpart funding to make the programme possible.
Zonal Coordinator of the Federal Ministry of Youth Development, Deborah Pitmang, described the effort as a major step forward, noting that the National Youth Centre in Plateau State is one of the most active in the North Central region.
“This is the very first time Plateau State itself is coming to do this kind of programme here. The training covered leather works, ICT, and fashion design. We trained 250 youths, and they were taught to form clusters and pool resources to maximise opportunities,” Pitmang said.
One of the beneficiaries, Peter Daboer, expressed gratitude to the state government, describing the programme as life-changing for many young people.
“The programme has equipped us with the skills, knowledge, and confidence necessary to excel in our chosen fields and contribute to the economic growth and development of Plateau State and the nation at large,” Daboer said.