News - North Central - FCT
Updated: July 23, 2020

N-Power: Minister Farouq Finally Speaks On Why June Stipend Is Delayed

By Ridwan Yusuf
July 23, 2020
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Sadiya Farouq, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development of Nigeria has said that the recent discovery of 14,020 beneficiaries’ account details already existing in other Ministries, Agencies and Departments (MDAs) is what caused eligible beneficiaries not to have received their June payment as of the 23rd day of July, 2020, AllNews reports.

This was contained in a statement which was signed by Deputy Director (Information), Rhoda Ishaku Iliya on Thursday in Abuja.

Many beneficiaries had complained about unpaid stipends especially starting from March 2020, while no single beneficiary has received stipend for June (Batch A and B). This, despite paying May stipend promptly.

In the fresh statement seen by AllNews, the ministry stated that the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (OAGF) "is working assiduously to remedy the situation".

“For many months now, especially since the exit of the Batch B N-Power programme, beneficiaries have lamented non payment of their stipends for months by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, saddled with the responsibility of facilitating the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) of the Federal Government,” the release said.

“The attention of the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has been drawn to the complaint of non-payment of some N-Power beneficiaries during the last exercise, with some alleging non-payment for upward of four months.

“For the records, the Ministry wishes to state that it had always processed, approved and remit necessary information for payments to the Office of the Accountant–General of the Federation (OAGF), whose responsibility it is to credit the various accounts of the beneficiaries using the GIFMIS platform as directed by FGN.

“However, after receiving complaints of non-payment by some beneficiaries, who did same through the ministry, the OAGF (GIFMIS) officially wrote informing the ministry that out of a total of Five Hundred and Sixteen Thousand, Six Hundred (516,600) N-Power beneficiaries data sent to OAGF for migration in April, 2020, only a total of Five Hundred and Two Thousand, Five Hundred and Eighty (502,580) data have successfully migrated to the GIFMIS platform.

“A total of Fourteen Thousand and Twenty (14,020) beneficiaries were returned because the beneficiaries’ account details already existed in other MDAs, which is against the established rule of the N-Power programme. This is verifiable.

“The Honourable Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, regrets any inconvenience this might have caused genuine and eligible beneficiaries just as the OAGF saddled with the responsibility of filtering out those denied is working assiduously to remedy the situation.”

N-Power: What You Should Know About New Payment Platform, GIFMIS

Not long ago, payment for N-Power beneficiaries was moved from the NIBSS (Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System) to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform, the scheme confirmed on the 18th of May.

AllNews understands that the GIFMIS is an IT-based system for budget management and accounting that is being implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve Public Expenditure Management processes, enhance greater accountability and transparency across Ministries and Agencies.

GIFMIS is designed to make use of modern information and communication technologies to help the Government of Nigeria to plan and use its financial resources more efficiently and effectively.