Giovanni Ifedi-Williams, a beneficiary of the Federal Government’s YouWinConnect and Development Bank of Nigeria (DBN) programmes, has accused the organisers of deceiving Nigerians by parading entrepreneurs as recipients of funding that was never disbursed.
In a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), Ifedi-Williams alleged that the ₦50 billion YouWinConnect fund, provided by the World Bank to finance 5,000 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), “was diverted.
The entrepreneur said the DBN also falsely claimed to have funded their businesses:
Ifedi-Williams described himself as “the lone voice” speaking out against what he called a fraudulent system.
He wrote, “I am one of the entrepreneurs that DBN parades for optics, falsely claiming they funded our enterprises.
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“To be clear, neither I nor my colleagues received any funding from DBN. What they offered us was “capacity building training,” some glossy certificates of participation, and mouth-watery meals each day for the week the training lasted. This is exactly how the N50 billion YouWinConnect fund, provided by the World Bank to finance 5,000 MSMEs, was diverted under the Buhari government in 2018.
“We went through online exams, 5,000 of us qualified for physical meet-and-greet session held at zonal level. And as usual, in the end, all we got were certificates. Next, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo went on Brekete Radio to publicly declare that their government had funded 5,000 entrepreneurs through the YouWinConnect program.
“I think I am the lone voice who has been speaking out against how government institutions exploit Nigerian entrepreneurs as pawns to fraudulently access & divert funds. Someday, we will have time to confront this fraudulent system and its actors. Till then, let’s keep managing.”
Labour Party presidential candidate Peter Obi recently raised questions over the Federal Government’s claim of disbursing ₦1 trillion to support Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), demanding full disclosure of how the funds were used and who actually benefited.
His query, which has stirred nationwide debate on transparency in government intervention programmes, came just days before entrepreneur Giovanni Ifedi-Williams made his explosive revelation, further amplifying concerns over the alleged diversion of public funds meant for young Nigerian businesses.
However, as of the time of filing this report, neither the Development Bank of Nigeria nor government officials has issued a response to the allegations.
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