By Ken Afor
The N-Power program has been put on indefinite suspension by the federal government.
In an interview with TVC News on Saturday, Betta Edu, the minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, announced the indefinite suspension.
Edu claims that some irregularities in the plan were the cause of the decision.
The minister added that a government investigation into the use of funds since the program’s inception has been launched.
She said that although some of the beneficiaries are not in the locations where they are supposed to be, they still expect monthly stipends.
According to the minister, some beneficiaries who were supposed to have left the program in 2022 are still receiving benefits.
She 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 utilization of funds into the N-Power program.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now; how many persons are owed, and the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring 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 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.”
It would be recalled that the N-Power Program was launched by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led administration to tackle youth unemployment and help increase social development.
The N-Power scheme was part of the former administration’s plan designed to actualise its target of taking 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years in various sectors of the economy including agriculture education and health.
