Nigerian investigative journalist and former presidential aide, Chief Jackson Ude, has empowered 80 youths from Nkporo in Ohafia Local Government Area of Abia State with ₦1 million each in business grants as part of his empowerment initiative.
The gesture, according to Oscar Chibueze, Ude’s Ambassador in Okwoko Nkporo, is aimed at helping young people establish or expand their small businesses, create sources of income and become more economically independent.
With each beneficiary receiving ₦1 million, the total value of the grants stands at ₦80 million distributed to 80 youths drawn from the 8 sub villages in Nkporo his home town.
A total of 10 youths were selected from each of the 8 communities after a rigorous screening exercise in which the applicants were made to write their respective business proposals and defend it before a panel.
The intervention comes amid growing concerns over unemployment, rising living costs and the difficulty many young Nigerians face in accessing capital to start businesses. Chief Ude, who hails from Amurie Nkporo in Abia State holds the traditional title of Odozi Obodo 1&2 of Nkporo, and has previously served in the administration of former President Goodluck Jonathan as Director of Strategy and Digital Communications. He is also the founder and publisher of PointBlank News.
Also during this period, Ude had empowered nine young Nkporo ladies with N4.5 million shared at N500,000 each to enable them pursue their confectionery businesses.
Ude, a 2019 recipient of the Peace Ambassador award of the Centre for Peace Studies (CPS), Sri Lanka, for his unrelenting promotion of good governance and democracy, has been engaged in a series of philanthropy in his Nkporo community.
In 2021, he awarded ₦8 million in scholarships to eight undergraduate students from Nkporo, with the beneficiaries selected on the basis of academic performance and financial hardship.
He followed it up in 2024 when he gave out N40 million as business grants to 40 Nkporo youths most of whom have scaled up their businesses since then.
The latest initiative represents a shift from educational support and humanitarian assistance to direct business-capital intervention for young people.
Community stakeholders have been mobilised to watch closely to see how beneficiaries deploy the funds in their businesses which ranges from trading, agriculture, food processing, fashion, technology, transportation and other small-scale enterprises.
The initiative highlights the growing role of private individuals and community-based philanthropists in supporting young Nigerians struggling to access conventional loans or startup funds.
