The so much hyped Goodluck Jonathan’s YouWin project initiated to empower 3,600 Nigerians over 3 years with up to N10 million naira each, who will in-turn employ 100,000 many more, has been postponed in what sources say is a move by the Presidency to manipulate the outcome of the programme.

A check on the YouWin project website www.youwin.org.ng reveal that February 19, 2012 which was previously set as the date for notification of winners has been changed to an indefinite date in March, and a flimsy clause was inserted as the reason for the postponement. Hopeful participants have also indicated that they have not received any winning notification or invitation so far from the organizers.

The initial arrangement was to notify winners of the competition on February 19, 2012, and then commence validation of winners and subsequent disbursement of funds through participating banks, but with the new development, that arrangement is farfetched. The organizers now prefer to validate the winners before announcing them. It would be noted that participants were actually validated using biometrics technology at the time of training. It is quite unclear whom or what the organizers are now validating since none of the actual participants has been invited for the “new” validation exercise.

Many observers and participants (both international and local) believe that the YouWin project is actually a major (if not the final) test of Nigerians’ trust on the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan, especially on his non-interference policy and commitment to fighting corruption and dealing with the unemployment situation ravaging the nation. Participants have already started expressing their disappointments and skepticisms especially at government’s lack of respect of their time and effort committed to the project.

1,200 finalists are expected to be selected from the 6,000 participants invited for training in the 6 geo political zones in the country. Participants had eagerly awaited the notification emails on Sunday, February 19, 2012, as initially scheduled by the organizers after evaluating their business plans. According to the initial selection process, 300 countrywide best business plans would be selected, and then another 150 best from each of the 6 geo political zones would be selected, to make up the 1,200. But with the recent inconsistency by the organizers highly suspected to be the result of a compromise, the YouWin project is now in question.

The government and the EDC handling this program should be more transparent in the selection process to avoid reactions like this from the media/people.