The North East Entrepreneur Development Centre (EDC) of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has commenced an entrepreneurship training programme for 500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Adamawa. The EDC Director, Mr Idris Bawa, made this known in Yola.
Bawa said the training was in its second week, adding that it was organised for IDPs selected from five camps in the state. He said a similar programme would be extended to 500 other IDPs in Borno. Bawa said the EDC was set up in 2013 by the CBN as part of its corporate social responsibility initiatives to address the problem of unemployment through capacity building of Nigerians to manage successful businesses.
He said the centre decided to extend its services to IDPs to enable them start a new life based on a sound footing. Bawa explained that participants of the EDC initiative were required by CBN to pay a commitment fee of N5, 000 each while a waiver was given to the IDPs due to their peculiar situation.
He said the firm handling the EDC training for CBN decided to offset the fees for the 500 IDPs in Adamawa as part of its corporate social responsibility. Bawa appealed to interest groups, government and philanthropists in Borno to help pay the outstanding N5, 000 fees for the 500 IDPs in Borno. The director said that the training, which was expected to build the capacity of the IDPs to start and manage successful enterprises, would also link them with financial institutions to access loans.
“ After establishing their businesses, we will also provide them with free business advisory services for 18 months by monitoring and advising them whenever they faced problems, ’’ he said.
The director, who said most businesses collapse before the first 18 months, added that the beneficiaries would be assisted to succeed.
