President William Ruto has announced that the government will fund 90,000 young people without skills to undertake courses.
Speaking on Monday, January 12, during the NYOTA disbursement in Nyeri County, the President said the government has already identified centers where the young people will receive training for the courses.
“We are looking for 90,000 young people who have no skills and have not gone to any college. We want them because we plan to pay for them to attend a course of their choice.
“If you want a course in hairdressing, tailoring, mechanics, plumbing, or electrician skills, we have identified mastercraft centers around Kenya,” said Ruto.
The Head of State also announced that the 90,000 young people will receive a monthly stipend of Ksh6,000 to cover transportation to and from the training centers.
“We will pay for the place where you will train, and we will also give you money; six thousand shillings every month to ensure you have funds to go to school and return home,” Ruto stated.
Further, President Ruto said the government is willing to support more than 90,000 youths if the number of applicants exceeds the initial target.
“And if the number exceeds 90,000, we will sort them out because we want to support as many young people as possible,” he said.
This comes months after President Ruto launched the NYOTA project, which aims to empower over 100,000 vulnerable youth across all 1,450 wards in Kenya.
The NYOTA project was approved by the World Bank Board on June 15, 2023, and formally assented to as a loan to the Republic of Kenya.
During that initial phase, 12,155 young people received funding totaling Ksh303,875,000, with each beneficiary accessing Ksh25,000, of which Ksh3,000 was allocated to savings.
On Thursday, January 6, the government rolled out the second phase of the project across 27 counties.
In a statement, the State Department for MSMEs Development said close to 50,000 beneficiaries will each receive Ksh22,000 as a deposit to their NYOTA Pochi la Biashara e-wallet.
