Senator Smart Adeyemi (APC, Kogi West) said on Wednesday that banks that denied him credit to run businesses are queuing to offer him free loans in his home since he returned to the Senate.
Contributing to a motion on the raising case of unemployment in Nigeria, Adeyemi said, “Banks in Nigeria contribute in no small measure to the problems of unemployment in the country.
“Yesterday, I was in my house and four different banks came to me, telling me to fill forms and take money just because I am back in Senate. These are the banks I spoke to some months back to give me facility to run my business but they were not forthcoming,” he said.
He said that many small-scale industries and graduates with business ideas are approaching Nigerian banks for facilities to finances businesses without success, “and in most cases, the banks asking for high interest rate of up to 40%”
The sponsor of the motion, former deputy senate president Ike Ekweremadu, described the rate of unemployment in the country as a time bomb about to explode.
He noted that the rising unemployment was the reason for insurgency, kidnapping, armed robbery, cybercrimes and other vice bedevilling the country.
He urged the Federal and states governments to declare state of emergency on the sector and provide employment to youths in Nigeria.
“Also, government should initiate a sustainable fund that will provide stipends to unemployed youths” he added.
Lending voice at the debate, Senator Istifanus Gyang, said the plight of unemployed youths is a trauma of despondency and hopelessness that government must swiftly address.
