The need for President Mohammadu Buhari to direct the organizers of the Youwin Programme to as a matter of urgency fulfill their own parts of the contract agreement to awardees form Taraba state, have become a source of concern to the awardees in the state.
The awardees whom Quick News Africa learnt were the third Batch of the Programme known as Youwin Three, expressed dismay at the ways and manner the organizers have paid for the first trench failed to pay for both the second and third trench as earlier collectively agreed in the signed agreements.
The third edition, Youwin Three as noticed by our reporter, was aimed at supporting both male and female entrepreneurs in Nigeria, which announced 1,500 awardees from the six geo-political zones of the country.
In a statement made available to journalists, in Taraba state, the awardees felt sad that they have been abandoned by the organizers after being compelled to source for funds to start their business and employed workers.
The statement which was signed by no fewer than twenty awardees, stated that ” we have decided to call on Mr. President and Members of the National Assembly to intervene on our behalf because those people we borrowed money from to start the businesses are our our neck.”
Attached with the statement as observed by our correspondent, are various documents with was collectively signed by the awardees and the organizers of the programme.
Wondering why some have been paid their second trench and other left behind in spite of meeting up with all the requirement, they felt that ” there is something fishing which is not in the know of our dear President.”
According to the statement ” some of our colleagues which we all met the milestone together have been paid their second trench why majority of us are yet to be paid.”
Believing that the President would continue with the Programme which was initiated by the immediate past President Goodluck Jonathan, the need for the President to ” personally monitor” the organizers” they believed would go a long way to ” fish out those of them who want to corrupt the Programme.”
The awardees who passionately pleaded with journalists to help them out said ” we are certain that through your various mediums the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria will now know the kind of hardship awardees of Youwin Three Programme are going through in Taraba state.”
Believing that their counter parts from other parts of the country have been paid their second trench and are at the verge of ” collecting their third trench” they seek to know why is ” any thing that has to do with Taraba state is not always taking serious by those concerned.”
A source at the Youwin secretariat who confided on Quick News Africa blamed the Federal Ministry of Finance for the ongoing delay in the payment of the second trench.
At the said Ministry, an official of the Ministry said the reason for the delay ” is that we are having issues with the Banks assigned with the responsibility of disbursing the funds to awardees” but however pleaded to the affected awardees that modalities to made the funds available to them have been put in place ” and they would soon receive their second trench.”
As at the time of filing this report, Quick News Africa observed that the inability of the organizers to fulfill their parts of the promised, has began to affect most of the awardees business as some of them have been dragged to courts by those who lend them funds to kicked start the businesses.
