The government has issued a warning to young people currently applying for opportunities under the National Youth Opportunities Towards Advancement (NYOTA) programme, following a surge in fake platforms and scammers.
In a statement released on Monday August 4, the NYOTA project administrators reiterated that the programme is free of charge and that applicants are not required to pay for any services related to the initiative.
They also clarified that only the official NYOTA platforms were authorised to share updates about the programme, and that these updates could only be shared via the official NYOTA social media pages.
''Next steps on all applications will be communicated to all applicants via their numbers used during the application process as well as official announcements shared on the project website and the relevant social media channels,'' a statement from the NYOTA program.
Youth looking to learn more about the program have been urged to visit a NYOTA project office or their nearest sub-county youth office for information relating to the project.
The update came amid claims from several youth online, purporting to have received offers to apply for the NYOTA program at a fee to get an edge over other applicants.
Sections of youth were also reportedly coerced through WhatsApp by unknown numbers to apply for the program via suspicious websites.
Earlier, NYOTA had invited youth interested in jobs and training opportunities to apply for the program, which is a collective initiative from the government and World Bank.
The NYOTA program was approved by the Cabinet on Tuesday, July 29, and is expected to benefit over 820,000 vulnerable and unemployed youth, including persons with disabilities.
Notably, the program is structured into four components; paid on-the-job training, entrepreneurship support, business development assistance, and Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) certification.
The application window was opened on July 11 and the government estimates that there have been at least a million applicants since then.
