On this post, I will share with you the meaning of empowerment, the benefits, types of empowerment and the youth empowerment programs available in Nigeria. Youth Empowerment program is a deliberate positive reinforcement by the government, private institutions, nonprofits or individuals to support and encourage the youth and other interested individuals to take charge of their lives by making informed decisions for the benefit of the self and the society through the provision of financial aid or formal training in education or trade.
Thus, Youth empowerment is a process of imbibing values to equip youth through education or skill development. When a youth is equipped with essential skills, he can utilize them to feed, assist others, and even invest for future use, aiding the nation economically. This will in-turn contribute to the increase in employability and add to the GDP of the nation.
One major benefit of youth empowerment programmes in Nigeria is that it can ensure that the youths in Nigeria are engaged with the necessary skill to sustain a livelihood, preventing them from adopting crime as a way to survive. There 5 types of empowerment–
- Social
- Educational
- Economic
- Political
- Psychological
Benefits of Youth Empowerment in Nigeria
- It makes for the transfer of skills and works ethics
- It facilitates the process of nation-building and development.
- It helps to reduce the crime rate
- It leads to self-employment and rapid industrialization.
- It enables one to consider vital tenets and societal values and committing oneself to worthwhile values.
N-Power
N-Power is the most popular Federal Government initiated empowerment program for Nigerian graduate which involves a massive deployment of 500,000 trained graduates who will assist to improve the inadequacies in our public services in education, health and civic education. Some of these graduates will also help in actualizing Nigeria’s economic and strategic aspirations of achieving food security and self-sufficiency.
N-Power, graduates are equipped with world-class skills and certification, they become innovators and movers in the domestic and global markets in software development, hardware service professionals, animators, graphic artists, building services professionals, artisans and others. N-Power also focuses on providing our non-graduates with relevant technical and business skills that enhance their work outlook and livelihood
TradeMoni:
If you are a youth and into petty business, then TraderMoni is the right empowerment programmes for you. It is a part of the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) scheme of the Federal Government, being executed by the Bank of Industry.
It is a loan programme of the Federal Government, created specifically for petty traders and artisans across Nigeria. With TraderMoni, you can receive interest-free loans starting from N10,000 and growing all the way to N100,000 as you payback.
You get N10,000 as the first loan. When you pay back the first loan, you immediately qualify for a second loan of N15,000. After payback of the second loan, you qualify for an N20,000 loan, and then N50,000, and then N100,000.
Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YOUWIN):
The Youth Enterprise With Innovation in Nigeria (YouWiN!) is also one of the most popular empowerment program in collaboration between Nigeria’s Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Communication Technology, and the Ministry of Youth Development with support from Department for International Development (DFID) and the World Bank.
This empowerment program’s objective is to encourage innovation and job creation through the establishment of new businesses and expansion of existing businesses.
The empowerment programme was launched by the former President Goodluck Jonathan to empower thousands of Nigerian young entrepreneurs who are talented and are creative with great skills and innovative business ideas, encourage them to start their own business by providing the needed capital for them which will ensure their great ideas and dreams of being an entrepreneur are materialized.
African Youth Empowerment Nigeria (AYEN)
The AFRICAN YOUTH EMPOWERMENT- NIGERIA (AYEN) is an international, independent, non-governmental, non-political and action-oriented youth empowerment organization set up to contribute to the wellbeing of the youths and this they do through workshops, seminars, vocational and leadership training courses.
Individuals, cooperate bodies, philanthropists and local donors also provide education and financial assistance in the areas of training and scholarship offers, to encourage the youngsters to get off the streets into the classroom.
Diamond–Crest for Youth Education Foundation:
Diamond-Crest for Youth Education Foundation is youth empowerment endorsed by the Ministry of Youths and Sports to formulate and articulate programmes that enhance quality education at the secondary and tertiary levels of education, and also to engage the youth in constructive and nationalistic issues.
This youth empowerment programmes also provide sponsorship and scholarships towards youth education, annual/periodic academic competitions and promote skills acquisition/entrepreneurial and vocational education among the youths.
Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS)
Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) under the subsidy reinvestment and empowerment programme (sure-p) managed and funded by the federal government of Nigeria to enhance the employability of up to 50,000 unemployed graduates in the 36 states of the federation and the FCT through internship programs in pre-selected institutions and to reduce the vulnerability of unemployed graduates, and to build manpower base towards attaining national development operations.
Youths in Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS) receive payments based on the amount of work put in. This in return also provide income opportunities for the poor.
Other youth empowerment programs are:
- Youth Empowering People (YEP)
- Youth Empowerment and Development Initiative (YEDI)
- Youth Entrepreneur Support Program (YES-P)
- Youth Initiative for Sustainable Agriculture in Nigeria (YISA)
- New Era Foundation
Good empowerment programmes
Good empowerment