Minister of Humanitarian Affsirs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu
By Victory Oghene
The Federal Government has announced the indefinite suspension of the N-Power programme.
N-Power Programme was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration in 2016 to address the issue of youth unemployment and help increase social development.
The scheme was created for unemployed graduates and non-graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 to equip them with skills and certifications for emerging global markets.
Speaking on Saturday, when she featured on TVC news program, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, said “the programme has been suspended because of irregularities within the scheme”
She added that investigation into how funds deployed for the programme were used has also been initiated.
“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 proper investigation into the utilisation of funds into the N-Power programme.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the programme right now, how many persons are owed, the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.
“There are lots going on. We met people who were supposed to have exited the program last year and they are still claiming that they are still teaching.
“Sometimes we contact the school or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months stipends.
“About 80% of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries,” she said.
