*Minister Celebrates  Birthday with Oyo Youth. Launches Scholarship Scheme for Indigent Undergraduates

About 120 youth gathered to celebrate the 55th birthday anniversary of the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Chief Sunday Akin Dare, at his house in Akobo area of Ibadan.

The venue of the event began to fill up as early as 3:30pm, although the event started an hour later.

It was a gathering like no other, as issues around youth development soon took center-stage, overshadowing the birthday celebrations. The celebrations-turned -youth engagement excited the celebrant, as he began to field questions from the eager youths while also enlightening them on the achievements of the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development.

The Minister spoke on the activities of the Ministry, and the numerous opportunities that are available for the youths to key into.

He particularly laid emphasis on the Nigerian Youth Investment Fund (NYIF) which is one Initiatives of the Ministry.

"The NYIF is aimed at essentially supporting entrepreneurship among the youth. Thousands of youth have registered for this loan which will go a long way to boost Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) as well as encourage new business innovations."

"Also, the Ministry has introduced the Graduate Attachment Program (GAP) with its focal point on integrating fresh graduates into relevant jobs/skills in order to provide them with the necessary work experience(s) while they also recieve stipend during the program.

At the end of this program, the beneficiaries will be enriched with the required work experience for other larger roles in the public and private sectors." He said.

Adding that the country is counting on the youth for its economic vitality, Sunday Dare said he believes that with the present crop of hardworking youth Nigeria has, a better future is guaranteed.

One of the highlights of the event was the launch of the Dare Undergraduate Scholarship Scheme (DUGGS) which is aimed at providing financial support to indigent students of Oyo State, in any University or Polytechnic across the nation.

The  launch of the scholarship was met with a standing ovation from the audience of youths who immediately started making enquiries on the process and procedure of benefiting from the scholarship scheme.

Sunday Dare assured them that this maiden edition of the scholarship will accommodate as many students as possible who meet the eligibility criteria. However, the scholarship scheme will become an annual event.

As the program progressed,  Chieftains of the All Progressive Congress (APC), joined the jubilant audience of Youths, insisting that although they are not youths, they would not miss out on any opportunity to celebrate Chief Sunday Dare who has been providing Oyo APC with tremendous support to stabilize the party in the state.