Why NIRSAL/CBN May Not Approve Your COVID-19 (NYIF) Loan

Several Nigerians appear to be in the dark over why their Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) loans were not approved by NIRSAL/CBN. Some people are even beginning to think that the loans are only available to Nigerians with powerful “godfathers.”

To clear the air on such an assumption, the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development disclosed the reasons some applicants’ loans might not be approved.

Below are the reasons some applicants were not pre-qualified for loan disbursement:

• Applicant did not provide valid or correct phone number for communications on further steps in the loan application.
• Applicant has an existing AGSMEIS or COVID-19 Loan.
• Applicant is over 35 years old, which puts them beyond the age bracket for youths.
• Applicant has a poor credit rating or currently has a non-performing loan.
• Applicant failed to provide a valid BVN.
• Applicant provided incomplete or incorrect BVN.

What you should know about NYIF

NYIF, which is operated by the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development, has disbursed loans to 5,200 youth amounting to about N1.63 billion.

This was revealed in the latest update provided to the Ministry by the NIRSAL Micro Finance Bank (NMFB), which disburses the loans. The update also showed that it was prepared to disburse to another batch of 25,000 youth as soon as their loan applications were approved.

In a statement issued by the Ministry and seen by Nairametrics, it stated, “Total eligible applications approved stood at 6054 out of which the 5,200 disbursements were made, leaving the number of those that have been approved but yet to get disbursement, at 854. The number of unqualified applicants for the batch stood at 721.

An advisory from the Ministry revealed that some applications were turned down because the applicants did not provide valid information as listed above.

The Ministry wishes to further remind beneficiaries and applicants that the monies disbursed by the Nigeria Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) to the youth are not grants, but repayable loans.”

Meanwhile, another batch of 25,000 youth has been pre-qualified for training ahead of final clearance for disbursement, with the Ministry disclosing that it was in consultations with other partners to expand the loan disbursement platform so as to fast-track access to the funds.

Only N3 billion has been provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) out of the N12.5 billion approved for the first tranche of the NYIF. So far, only 54.6 % of the N3 billion has been disbursed.

About 25,000 are lined up for approval, training and eventual disbursement.