News - North Central - FCT
Updated: May 18, 2020

N-Power: Scheme Restates Reason Programme Was Moved From VP's Office To Humanitarian Ministry

By Ridwan Yusuf
May 18, 2020
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The Job Creation and Empowerment Initiative of the Social Investment Programme of the Nigerian Government, on Monday, restated that the famed N-Power scheme was moved to the newly-created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in October last year "for institutionalization", AllNews reports.

The National Social Investment Programmes NSIP (an initiative the N-Power scheme is one of its elements), which was formerly under the office of the vice-president, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo and managed by Hajia Maryam Uwais, Special Adviser to the president on social intervention, was moved to the ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management, and social development on October 1, 2019.

It would be recalled that N-Power beneficiaries often accuse Sadiya Farouq, the minister of Humanitarian Affairs of 'unnecessarily' delaying their monthly stipends. In fact, as at the time of publishing this report, they have not been paid for April.

But reacting to the beneficiaries’ displeasure; N-Power says President Muhammadu Buhari made that telling decision in 2019 'so that other young Nigerians can benefit from the programme'.

Dear Mustapha,

The Government is one. The movement was done for institutionalization. So irrespective of what happens in the future, other young Nigerians can benefit from the programme. https://t.co/pWZB1AasCJ

— N-Power (@npower_ng) May 18, 2020

An estimated 500,000 graduate youths (Batch A and Batch B) across the country are currently engaged in the scheme, providing services in the country’s education, health, agriculture sectors, and local government offices with a monthly N30,000 (approximately 83 US Dollars) stipend.

The N-Power was introduced in 2016 by the Buhari administration “to imbibe the entrepreneurship culture in the Nigerian youth aged between 18 and 35 — both graduates and non-graduates”.

AllNews understands that the Buhari government intends to expand the scheme from approximately 500, 000 to accommodate one million beneficiaries in the next phase. This, to make it the largest post-tertiary job scheme in Africa.