In a significant move to combat youth unemployment, Nigeria LNG (NLNG) has provided financial backing of ₦140 million (approximately $90,000) to 28 emerging entrepreneurs in Rivers State. Each participant received ₦5 million to launch or scale their businesses, marking a key milestone in NLNG’s broader push to boost job creation and small business development.
This initiative forms part of NLNG’s Vocational Innovation and Business Empowerment Scheme (VIBES), which aims to empower young Nigerians across priority sectors including agriculture, tech, services, and skilled trades.
Before securing funding, the beneficiaries completed a month-long training bootcamp that ended with a competitive pitch session. Alongside the 28 grant recipients, 42 other trainees have been pre-approved for low-interest loans of up to ₦1 million to support their entrepreneurial ambitions.
According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s youth unemployment rate stood at 6.5% in Q2 2024, a figure that continues to spark concern among policymakers and development stakeholders. With SMEs accounting for over 90% of economic activity, 80% of employment, and 45% of GDP, programs like VIBES are seen as essential to reversing joblessness and stimulating grassroots growth.
Launched in 2004 as the Youth Empowerment Scheme (YES) and later transformed into VIBES, the program has trained more than 1,400 young Nigerians to date. However, only about 300 trainees have succeeded in building stable businesses. This prompted NLNG to revise the model, adding structured mentoring, tailored support services, and strategic follow-up to enhance results.
Vice President Kashim Shettima recently reaffirmed the importance of MSMEs in Nigeria’s economy, emphasizing that fostering youth-led enterprises is key to unlocking inclusive development.
While the grants provide vital startup capital, the sustainability of these businesses will hinge on long-term support in areas such as customer acquisition, financial planning, and growth strategy. If proven successful, the VIBES model could become a blueprint for other companies in Nigeria’s energy and extractive sectors, including Shell and TotalEnergies, which are already engaged in similar empowerment efforts.
NLNG’s intervention reflects a growing recognition that youth-driven innovation, when properly nurtured, can fuel broader economic transformation in Nigeria.
