No plan to scrap YouWin programme – Adeosun

   The Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi Adeosun, on Wednesday said the Federal Government had no intention to scrap the Youth With Innovation Entrepreneurship programme, adding that the scheme was being reviewed in line with the economic agenda of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari.

Adeosun stated this during her first Facebook live session filmed at the headquarters of the Ministry of Finance, which had over 130,000 viewers.

The Federal Government had on Friday begun investigation into the alleged fraud in the YouWin Programme to uncover alleged massive fraud in the scheme.

The PUNCH had reported exclusively that investigators had already discovered that some senior civil servants gave out or facilitated slots worth between N7m and N10m to their spouses, children and friends.


Some of the awardees, the source said, would not have qualified for the grants if they were not aided by their connections within and outside the ministry.

But speaking during the Facebook session, the minister said the review of the scheme, when concluded, would enable the government to incorporate the initiative into university curricula across Nigeria.

She said, “The Buhari administration has no plans to scrap it. The Federal Government has reviewed the scheme and repositioned it as the YouWiN!Connect, which focuses on continuous enterprise education and skills building.

“As part of the restructuring, the YouWiN!Connect now publishes weekly editorials in four national newspapers. The principles of the YouWiN!Connect will be incorporated into university curricula across Nigeria.”

Adeosun stated that over the last few months, the ministry had been supporting small businesses, creating jobs, improving transparency, cutting the cost of governance, and boosting government revenues.

She said the current administration was putting in place measures to ensure that the economy was well diversified in a manner that any fluctuation in oil prices would not have significant impact on government revenue.

“The good news is that we are working through the issues one by one, and trying to ensure that as we rebuild the economy, we get away from the boom and bust cycle of the past; we want to build an economy where, whether oil price is high or low, there’s sustainable growth for Nigeria and for Nigerians,” she added.

The Federal Government, according to her, is doing this by investing heavily in infrastructure and working to create an enabling environment for businesses.

On the Federal Government’s whistle-blower policy, the minister said it was introduced not only to recover stolen funds, but to also serve as a deterrent against corrupt practices.