The Federal Government, on Saturday, suspended the N-Power scheme indefinitely, citing several flaws and irregularities within the programme.
PulseNets reports that the suspension was announced by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, who said that the government had launched a thorough investigation into the utilisation of funds allocated to the scheme since its inception.
Edu highlighted several key concerns, including the presence of beneficiaries who are not fulfilling their assigned duties yet continue to receive monthly stipends and beneficiaries who claim to be actively working within the programme but are found to be absent from their designated places of assignment.
She also expressed concerns about the misuse of funds allocated to the N-Power scheme, noting that approximately 80 percent of beneficiaries are not actively engaged in their assigned roles, yet they continue to demand salaries.
The Minister emphasised the need to scrutinise the N-Power programme comprehensively and to restructure it to ensure that it is effective and efficient in achieving its objectives.
“We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are, so we will basically suspend the programme for now until we are done with a proper investigation into the utilisation of funds in the N-Power programme,” Minister Edu explained.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the programme right now, how many persons are owed, and the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.”
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The N-Power scheme was introduced in 2016 by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to address youth unemployment and promote social development. The programme has provided jobs to a number of young Nigerians in various sectors, including education, health, agriculture, and technology.
