The Director General of Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Office, (NSHCDO) Habiba Balarebe Suleiman, has said that the Nasarawa state youth revolving loan scheme remains valid for the youth of the state.
She stated this during a press conference organized by the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Office, (NSHCDO) in collaboration with the Bank of Industry.
According to the DG, “Our attention has been drawn to a malicious publication seeking to garnish the image of the state government, Human Capital Development Office, and the youth Revolving scheme, we are here to inform the public that the loan scheme is genuine and valid”,
She urged the youth to shun what the publication said and continue to apply for the youth revolving loan for the development of youth in the state.
The DG added that Governor Abdullahi Sule’s love for the youth has made the Nasarawa State Government establish and constituted the Nasarawa State Human Capital Development Office (NSHCDO), saddled with a responsibility to accelerate growth and development in the state.
So far, the NSHCDO has received 89 applications with 42 applicants making up ‘Batch A’ and Batch B’ has 47 applicants.
Out of the 42 applicants received in Batch A, 10 were successful after the screening exercise meant to check the viability of the proposal and to ascertain originality, as well as the level of understanding of the business by the applicants.
The screening exercise is in three stages, with NSHCDO interfacing with the BOI to see if the loan recommendations are adequate for each of the successful applicants.
On his part, Abdullahi Alhaji said the bank and the state government had entered into a matching fund agreement where each provided N250 million to empower the youths of the state.
He explained that a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between them was signed on October 27, 2022, after the state government remitted their counterpart contribution of N250 million.
He added that when a proposal is endorsed by the agency, a panel examines and screens the applicants and forwards the list of successful entrepreneurs to the bank for further scrutiny and possible payment.
He also said that the bank had set machinery on the ground to ensure that only qualified applicants benefit in line with due process.
“We have also perfected modalities to recover the loan given out to enable many other owners of businesses to benefit from the loan,” he added.
