By Abdullahi Musa
It is on record that no nation can achieve real development without industrialisation. It is in the light of that the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in the past few years, has been very active in its intervention in critical sectors of the economy to spur growth and create jobs for Nigerians, especially the teeming youth. The apex bank had rolled out a battery of intervention funding for several sectors of the economy estimated at about N1.1 trillion. But the nation is still heavily weighed down by youth unemployment. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed that national unemployment rate rose to 33.3 percent in the fourth (Q4), 2020 from 27.1 percent in the second quarter (Q2) of the same year. The underemployment rate decreased from 28.6 percent to 22.8 percent. A combination of both the unemployment and underemployment rate for the year under review gave a figure of 56.1 percent.
The NBS data further revealed that youth population eligible to work was about 40 million, out of which only 14.7 million were fully employed, while the remaining 11.2 million were unemployed. This huge unemployment situation stems mainly from the non-availability of openings for them to be employed and the state of the nation’s education system which only prepares the students for employment without any entrepreneurial skills. It was in seeking solution to this problem that led the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to come up with a number of initiatives targeted at empowering the youths to be self-reliant and job creators. Some of the initiatives include Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme ((YEDP), the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) among others.
This, of course is in line with the promise of the CBN Governor, Mr. Godwin Emefiele, on assumption of office that he would lead a central bank that is alive to its duties as a catalyst for national development. The impact of these interventions is evident today in different sectors including agriculture, the creative industry, the textile industry and of course in the manufacturing industry among others. Like a colossus, the footprints of the CBN have touched every aspect of the Nigerian economy.
Committed to ensuring the industrialisation of Nigeria and as a complement to its microfinance policy and also to ensure the sustained supply of skilled entrepreneurs to take advantages available to Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), the CBN in 2006 initiated plans to support the efforts of the Small and Medium Enterprises Agency of Nigeria (SMEDAN), National Directorate of Employment (NDE), National Poverty Eradication Programme (NAPEP), Industrial Training Fund (ITF) etc. by establishing or strengthening at least one Entrepreneurship Development Centre [EDC] in each of the six geo-political zones in Nigeria.
This is to encourage private entrepreneurship, self-employment, job creation, income growth, poverty eradication and economic development. The EDCs targets those with at least secondary education, and has the objectives of developing entrepreneurship spirit amongst Nigerians and providing insight into the tools, techniques and framework for managing all functional areas of business enterprise, including production, marketing, personnel and finance. It is also to develop skills of would-be-entrepreneurs to successfully start, expand, diversify and manage business enterprises as well as link them with financial institutions for startup capital, especially the microfinance banks and to raise a new class of entrepreneurs/owners, who can compete globally and succeed in managing MSMEs and provide the bridge for future industrialisation of the country.
The CBN EDC Centres are to provide physical structures, training materials, equipment, human resources and other facilities that would assure internationally competitive, effective and sustainable services capable of meeting the needs of MSMEs in the country. The pilot EDCs took off at Onitsha; Ota and Kano in 2008. The initiative was an instant success spurring the bank to replicate it in the South south, Northeast and North central zones in 2013. Participants on completion of their training are entitled to free 18 months business advisory services and monitoring. This is to prevent them from folding -up in the initial period of start-up. Beyond that, the CBN has also created special funds for lending to those who have gone through the entrepreneurial development centres to ensure they have a sustainable pool of funds to draw from.
Among these special funds are Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Fund (MSMEDF), the Youth Entrepreneurship Development Programme ((YEDP), the Agri-Business Small and Medium Enterprise Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) among others. The CBN in collaboration with the Banker’s Committee set up a N26 billion Agribusiness/Small and Medium Enterprises Investment Scheme (AGSMEIS) which has already begun disbursement of funds to qualified entrepreneurs. The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Godwin Emefiele, in his speech at the flag-off of the disbursement of funds to the first set of over 300 beneficiaries, noted that the challenges of youth unemployment and restiveness must be confronted with strategic innovative thinking to provide sustainable solution.
He said the committee agreed to design and fund a suitable scheme aimed at reducing the huge financing gap for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), adding that the Fund was also aimed at job creation, financial inclusion and inclusive growth for Nigerians, particularly the teeming youth population.
Within its first three years, the CBN-EDCs located in the North East, South-South and North Central have trained over 17,727 participants, representing 98.5 per cent of the target set while a total of 9,298 businesses were expanded. Also, a total of 6,311 of the graduates, representing 35.0 per cent of the set target, accessed loans to the tune of N1, 042 billion from various sources. The centres also collectively created 14,069 jobs directly while the second phase of the EDC programme, under the Tripartite Agreement, located in the North-West and South-West, which commenced in January 2015, collectively trained 3,146 representing 75 per cent of the target set, linked 160 participants representing 5 per cent of the target set to finance and 1,159 jobs created. As at the first quarter of 2021, the Entrepreneurship Development Centres have collectively trained over 55,422 budding entrepreneurs across the country.
The CBN-EDC in the south west alone has trained over 24,192 persons, expanded 4348 businesses, started 362 new enterprises, and created over 6378 jobs and facilitated loans valued at N519 million. In the South south, the EDC, has trained 9, 442 participants, while also helping to establish and expand over 3, 560 enterprises. The enterprises so established according to the South south CBN EDC’s Corporate Communications Manager, Mr. EmekaUgwu, have created over 9,000 direct and indirect jobs.
That was not all. He also said the Centre has assisted about 3,035 participants to access finance totaling over N1 billion, ranging from N50, 000 to about N10 million, from various sources for their enterprises. As a way of catching them young and to support the various tertiary institutions in preparing their students for life after school, the Central Bank of Nigeria, developed the Tertiary Institutions Entrepreneurship Scheme (TIES), in partnership with Nigerian polytechnics and universities. The idea is to harness the potential of graduate entrepreneurs (gradpreneurs) in Nigeria.
The Scheme is designed to create a paradigm shift among undergraduates and graduates from the pursuit of white-collar jobs to a culture of entrepreneurship development for economic development and job creation. The Scheme thus aims to provide an innovative financing model that will create jobs, enhance the entrepreneurial ecosystem and support economic growth and development as well as provide an enabling environment for co-creation, mentorship and development of entrepreneurial and technological innovations. From all indications, this foray of the CBN into the entrepreneurship development of the Nigerian youth may just be what the nation needs to join the league of industrialised nations.
Musa is an entrepreneur based in Zaria, Kaduna State