Federal Govt To Disengage 500,000 N-Power Beneficiaries Soon

About 500,000 persons engaged in Nigeria’s social investment programme N-Power will have to look elsewhere for means of livelihood as the government is set to terminate their existing engagement.

Federal Govt To Disengage 500,000 N-Power Beneficiaries Soon
Rhoda Iliya

The Federal government has disclosed that about 500,000 persons will be disengaged in Nigeria’s social investment program, "N-Power".

Their current engagement, spokesperson for the humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development ministry, Rhoda Iliya, said in a statement, has contributed to “the administration’s vision of lifting 100 million people out of poverty by creating opportunities to enhance the productivity of the Nigerian youth."

She said, “Both Batches will soon be terminated according to the (press) release for the reasons given in the (press) release. 

The program has enrolled 500,000 beneficiaries thus far – 200,000 from Batch A which started in September 2016 and 300,000 from Batch B which kicked off in August 2018.

The beneficiaries were supposed to spend 24 months on the program but Batch A beneficiaries have spent over 40 months.

Iliya said in one of the statements that the current beneficiaries have overstayed in the program “thereby denying other Nigerians an opportunity to access the program and gain skills for entrepreneurship and employment.”

When eventually disengaged, the number of people that will be rendered jobless will compound Nigeria’s already bad unemployment figures.

Although Illiya confirmed that the government is working on the exit for the beneficiaries, she did not give a specific date or month.

“The first and second batch, they are still working on their exit,” Illiya told our correspondent, “There is no specific date.”

Meanwhile, N-Power beneficiaries have not been pleased with the administration of the program since the management of the program was transferred to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in 2019.

 

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They said all was well with the program initially and that the former managers of the program have started putting in place an exit strategy for them.

However, about 24-months after N-power’s launch, the sweet stories soon became sour to tell for these beneficiaries after Buhari announced major shifts in the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) which N-Power is part of.

The beneficiaries through a group named the 36-states N-power Representative Forum in a letter to in an open letter to President Muhammadu Buhari on May 22, said the minister has “inflicted enough pain” on them since the program was transferred to her ministry.

They advised Buhari to remove Farouq as a minister and replace her with someone else that is “more competent, proactive, and youth-friendly.”

President Buhari during his national broadcast to commemorate Nigeria’s 59th independence in May 2018 announced that all SIPs will be institutionalized to the newly created Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development ministry where Farouq heads as a minister.

Buhari assured Nigerians that his government’s N500 billion Special Intervention Programme continues to target these vulnerable groups, through the Home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme.

Prior to this, activities of SIPs were coordinated by a government Steering Committee headed by Vice President Yemi Osinbajo which comprises Finance, Education, Health, Agriculture, Trade and Investment, Youth and Sports, Women Affairs, Labour and Productivity, Information ministers to implement government’s agenda.

Nigeria’s budget and national planning ministry was NSIPs secretariat.

Buhari’s assurance was not enough to keep the running of these programs as it was earlier as N-Power beneficiaries had to resort to writing open letters and holding protests before their stipends could be paid.

“The 500.000 beneficiaries nationwide will always have to protest before our 30,000 naira stipends is paid. Sometimes by the 3rd week of new/following month, since she (Farouq) took over power from the office of the vice-president,” Pelemi said.