The Presidency has declared that since the take off
of N-Power, one of the social investment programme of the federal
government in December 2016, that none of the beneficiaries has been
owed. It also disclosed that so far the sum of N279 billion has been
spent on the stipend paid to beneficiaries of the programme from
December 2016 till date.
The Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to
the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment, Office of the Vice
President, Afolabi Imoukhuede, made the disclosure while fielding
questions from journalists on Friday. The N-Power programme is one of
the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) introduced by the
President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration towards creating jobs and
ameliorating poverty in the land.
While giving the breakdown of
the stipend disbursed, the presidential aide explained that N30,000
monthly was paid to the 500,000 youths engaged under the N-Power
programme since December 2016.
According to Imoukhuede, the first
batch of 200,000 youths have earned a total of N180 billion for 30
months from December 2016 to June 2019 with a monthly bill of N6
billion.
He further disclosed that additional N9 billion
monthly bill was paid from August 2018 to June 2019 totaling N99 billion
for the second batch of 300,000 youths engaged under the N-Power
programme.
According to him, “It is very simple when talking
about amount that has been invested. I am saying that in Batch 1, they
started earning from December 2016, so roughly we invest N72 billion
annually just for Batch 1 alone. That is aside from the gadgets that
they get and aside from from all the sponsored trainings that they get.
“For
instance, all the trainings on agric for N-Agro, training for health
for those who are in health, we sponsor all of that through the federal
agencies, ministry of agriculture and ministry of health.
“So
direct on our people is N30,000 x 200,000 = N6 billion every month for
the first batch which started in 2016. So they have been there for over
two years, that is N72 billion multiply by two years or thereabout.
“But
since August last year, the wage bill moved from N6 billion to N15
billion because it’s now 500,000 of them that earn N30,000 monthly. We
have been on N15 billion for almost one year because by end of July it
will be one year that we have been making that investment every month.
“So
if you put it together that just tells you how much investment we have
made and like I have said, we don’t owe anyone because the money is paid
directly to them not through a proxy.”
The Presidential aide
further explained that the scheme was designed to solve the problems of
unemployment Nigerian youths were facing after graduation.
Imoukhuede
speaking on the plans to recruit National Youth Service Corps members
and beneficiaries of the N’Power programme to beef up the manpower needs
of the Nigeria Police Force, said the proposal actually came from the
managers of the programme. He said the SIP office actually supplied the
data to the Nigeria Governors Forum, describing the beneficiaries as
fully trained foot soldiers spread in all 774 local government areas in
the country. The corps members and N’Power cadets are to make up for the
inadequacy of the ongoing recruitment of 10,000 additional hands by the
police.