The Federal Government has announced continued payment of stipends to
N-Power 2016 Batch 1 beneficiaries beyond the expiry month of December
2018.
A statement issued by Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant to the
President on Media and Publicity Office of the Vice President, on Monday
in Abuja, said funding for the continued payments is contained in the
2018 budget.
However, Akande said that beyond the payments of stipends, the
Federal Government is also exploring further options to seamlessly move
the beneficiaries from the government job programme to positions where
they were able to earn a sustainable income.
He said that the transition would be through a plan, designed to enable
them become valuable, all-rounded employees, employers or entrepreneurs.
“The plan is basically an extension of the exit date of December 2018
for the first batch of 200,000 to enable them continue to offer their
valuable services in their various communities while still earning their
stipends.
“They are also to partake in the Enhancement Programme that would
seamlessly transition them into numerous economic opportunities in both
the public and private sectors of the economy.
“The N-Power is a job employment and empowerment scheme for hitherto
unemployed Nigerian graduates under the Buhari Administration’s National
Social Investment Programmes (N-SIP).
“The scheme is the largest post-tertiary employment programme in
Africa, comprising N-Power beneficiaries that are paid a monthly stipend
of N30, 000 and are deployed as volunteers into various sectors of need
in the public space, such as health, agriculture, education and public
finance.
“For the first time in Nigeria, the N-Power beneficiaries applied and
were selected for the programme in an objective, efficient and
transparent manner, without the need for ‘connections’ to anyone of
influence,’’ he said.
He said that based on conservative projections, the N-Power scheme would provide jobs for at least 10 million Nigerians by 2023.
Akande said that since it commenced in 2016, the N-Power scheme, which
had beneficiaries in all the LGAs of the 36 States of the Federation and
the FCT, had so far, provided jobs for half a million young Nigerian
graduates nationwide.
He said that all the N-Power beneficiaries were given the opportunity to
select and own electronic devices for continuous learning as they grew;
depending on the selected vocations of entrepreneurship, and to boost
the Knowledge Economy.