FG Suspends N-Power, Probes Disbursement Of Funds …To Employ Five Million Nigerians …Extends Beneficiaries’ Age From 18-40

The Federal Government has suspended the N-Power programme indefinitely.
This was disclosed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu while speaking during an interview on TVC News last Saturday.
According to her, the suspension was sequel to some irregularities observed within the scheme.
Edu said that an investigation would be launched into how funds were expended since the beginning of the programme.
Revealing reasons behind the suspension and what will follow, the minister said, “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 programme 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.
The Tide reports that the N-Power Programme was launched by President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration to tackle youth unemployment and help increase social development.
Meanwhile, the Federal Government said no fewer than five million Nigerians are to be employed after the restructuring of its job-creation scheme, N-Power.
But in order to provide the expected number of young Nigerians with jobs in the next five years, the Federal Government has expanded the age bracket of the N-Power beneficiaries from 18 to 40 from the previous bracket of 18 to 35years.
The N-Power National Programme Manager, Dr. Akindele Egbuwalo, made the disclosure in a statement in Abuja, yesterday.
Dr. Egbuwalo appealed to Nigerians to understand the rationale behind the temporary suspension of the N-Power programme to pave way for the ongoing restructuring in order to restore the confidence of Nigerians in the programme.
Egbuwalo said, “This restructuring and transformation will also birth an expanded programme to reach beneficiaries aged 18-40 (the previous age limit was 35).
“We are targeting five million beneficiaries in five years at a pace of 1 million per year under the graduate and non-graduate stream”.
Giving a further glimpse into what a restructured N-Power would look like, the National Programme Manager disclosed that it will accommodate some new programmes in education, health, works, agriculture, technology, fashion, entertainment and other relevant areas of skill acquisition and employability.
He added: “To earn the confidence of Nigerians in the expanded programme, transparency and accountability will be the benchmark. It shall no longer be business as usual as we make concerted efforts to put the nation on the right footing, ensuring that no one directly or indirectly unleashes suffering on Nigerians”.
Egbuwalo explained that the suspension of the programme became imperative following the discovery of some sharp practices and to also give room for a detailed investigation into its operations in the last one year.
His words: “There is a need to audit the number of people in the programme, those who have exited the programme, those who are being owed, whether they reported to work or not and how funds have been utilised over this period.
“Recently, we discovered instances of programme beneficiaries whose participation has lapsed since 2022 but have remained on and continue to expect payments from the government.
“In addition, some beneficiaries must honour their obligation to the programme. They do not report to their places of primary assignments as required but still receive monthly payments.
“These instances have made the need for a thorough audit imperative as we also look into claims of those being owed for up to eight to nine months stipends to ascertain the veracity of their claims”.
He assured all beneficiaries with genuine claims that the Federal Government will not owe anybody as it will resolve all cases and honour all valid outstanding obligations once the verification exercise is completed.