In a major policy reversal, the Federal Government has announced that the N-Power program will be suspended indefinitely.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, made the announcement during an appearance on a TVC news program on Saturday.
The decision stems from identified irregularities within the program, and the government has initiated an investigation into fund utilization since its inception.
Minister Edu said that some program beneficiaries are not fulfilling their assigned duties, yet they expect to receive monthly stipends.
She emphasized the need for a thorough examination of the N-Power program, including the current number of participants, outstanding payments, and beneficiaries’ actual work statuses.
Edu stated, “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are so we will basically suspend the programe for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilization of fund into the N-Power program.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now, how many persons are owed, amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.
“There are lots going on. We met people who are supposed to have exited the program since last year and they are still on 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 percent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries.”
The N-Power Program was initially launched to address youth unemployment and promote social development during the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
