The apex bank also presented cheques of N5million each to
six pioneer beneficiaries of the scheme to help boost their businesses, create
employment and contribute to economic
growth.
CBN Governor, Mr Godwin
Emefiele, said that the scheme was designed to create a paradigm shift
among students and graduates of tertiary
institutions in Nigeria from
white-collar jobs towards
entrepreneurship development.
Emefiele said that the apex bank was collaborating with
polytechnics and universities in the country on the scheme.
According to him, the
idea is to make Nigerian graduates job creators rather than job seekers after
graduation, as is obtained in some other parts of the world.
“What we are doing today is something that is taken for
granted in other climes.
“At the CBN, we are concerned about the level of
unemployment within the youth population and we are taking steps to address
it,’’ he said.
He urged the beneficiaries to apply the loans well in their
businesses so as to engender growth and
create more jobs.
Emefiele said that academic certificates of beneficiaries
were accepted as collateral, and would be returned to them when they offset the
loans.
The six pioneer beneficiaries of the TIES as announced by the apex bank were Aisha
Sulaiman, a graduate of Bayero University, Kano and Chukwudi Ukpabi of Federal Polytechnic,
Ebonyi.
Others are Zainab Muhammed, a graduate of Federal
Polytechnic, Bida, Nura Abdullahi of
Kano State Polytechnic, Simeon Ojopane of Kogi State University and Adebowale Olaoye, an accounting graduate of
the University of Lagos.
The CBN Governor also inaugurated an 11-man Body of Experts,
chaired by Mr Abubakar Suleman, the Managing Director of Sterling Bank PLC, to
steer the scheme.
In a goodwill message, the Secretary to the Government of
the Federation (SGF ), Mr Boss Mustapha, commended CBN for initiating the
scheme.
Mustapha, who expressed the Federal Government’s support for
TIES, described it as one of the numerous laudable interventions by the CBN to
empower the Nigerian youth.
He urged tertiary institutions to ensure that beneficiaries
were selected strictly on merit.
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