Controversy is trailing the disbursement of the Youth Revolving Funds Scheme following disagreement between the Nasarawa State government, the Bank of Industry (BOI) and a beneficiary of the program.
The Youth Revolving Funds Scheme (YRFS), established by the Governor Abdullahi Sule’s administration to provide loans to young entrepreneurs in Nasarawa State in collaboration with the Bank of Industry, was launched in Lafia on March 6, 2023.
During the launch, 10 beneficiaries out of about 42 applicants were awarded a mock cheque and subsequently referred to the Bank of Industry for onward disbursement of the loan.
Mr. Daniel Abraham, a young entrepreneur and founder of E-Dan Nets, who was one of the 10 beneficiaries, dissatisfied about the rigorous stress they had to endure for months and not being able to access the loan, went on Facebook to express his dissatisfaction regarding the negative impact the N500 million Youth Revolving Funds Scheme (YRFS).
E-Dan Nets alleged that despite paying the required 11 percent appraisal and security fees, which amounted to N225,000 of the N2 million awarded him, he had not received the promised loan.
“A Scheme that was said to support, we were forced to pay 11% of total amount approved per beneficiary.
“However, after the payment, it has been one signature and document or the other, making us believe in the process. Every week they will offer you one explanation or another for the ongoing process.
“I have asked Human Capital Development (Nasarawa State) and the Bank of Industry for my 11% paid reimbursement.
“Please, send my money back between October 5 and October 6, 2023,” he demanded.
Investigation by Newspot showed that of a truth E-Dan has not received any disbursement.
Some of the recipients, who pleaded anonymity, said that there is no deception anywhere.
One of beneficiaries, (name withheld) said, “Though I have not received mine yet, I know of people who have received theirs, I can tell you it is not a scam.”
Further investigation led to one of the recipients, a female (name withheld).
She asked: “Will Bank of Industry soil its name just to scam people of Nasarawa with just a few hundreds of naira?
“The process is long and most times frustrating, but who wants to give his two million and above to those who they don’t know from adam.
“I can assure you the scheme is real. I have received mine, (N2 million) and it came the same week I almost gave up”, she added.
Newspot put a call to the Director-General/Focal Person, Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Agency, Ms. Habiba Balarabe Suleiman, for her opinion on the issue.
Ms Sulaiman confirmed the situation and shed more light on it.
She said, “It is true that the aggrieved was one of the beneficiaries and was awarded 2 million naira.
“There are procedures to follow, there are other factors involved. The aggrieved bank record shows that he has a pending loan on that account. We helped him resolve that with his bank
“His CAC record showed that his registration was not up to date, all these takes time even for him to resolve.
“One of the aggrieved guarantors will resign in three months and the agreement is that whomever will guarantee them must still have five years to serve.”
She further asserted that this was a deliberate attempt to smear the good name of the agency and that of His excellency, Governor Sule, whose sole aim was to support the youths due to absence of white collar jobs.
Ms. Habiba said that what is being experienced is just first time challenges which has helped to make other batches run smoothly.
She maintained that so far, about three persons have received their loan and another will receive theirs before the end of the day, while some are scheduled for next week.
The director assured that the process of refunding the aggrieved’s 11% has been initiated and the money would be given back to him as soon as the process is concluded.
A document made available to Newspot by the director explained that three applicants were paid the sum of N7,105,758.63.
The statement reads in part: “In summary, a total number of 89 applications were received under Batch ‘A’ and ‘B’. The total number of 53 applications were approved amounting to N125,467,800.00 and sent to BOI for onward disbursement, out of which the sum of N7,105,758.00 have so far been paid.”
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