Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has attributed the outbreak of COVID-19 to the delay why the Federal Government has not shortlisted N-power Batch C candidates 8 months after registration.
Recall that in June 2020 when the ministry opened the portal, over 5 million Nigerians applied for 400,000 opening.
The Minister stated this after the launch of the N-Power Batch C National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS), yesterday in Abuja.
Farouq reemphasised that government would be transparent in selecting candidates without deploying nepotism and favoritism.
According to her, “you know we have gone through the pandemic. So that is one of the reasons we have delayed.
“The programme has provided an opportunity for 109,823 N-power beneficiaries to to utilize the skills they acquired and savings to become business owners.
“In view of this life-changing experiences, President Muhammadu Buhari graciously approved the expansion of the N-power programme to enable onboarding of 1 million young Nigerians.”
She added that the Batch C will “strategically drive the acquisition of a bouquet of usable skills for each beneficiary with the goal to ensure they are economically more active and possess the right vocational skill set set to attract gainful employment on graduation;
“Increase national employment indices and ensure the productive engagement of millions of youths with the ultimate desire to improve cohesion and national security;
“Reflate and stimulate the economy since the beneficiaries will be paid a stipend of N30,000 per month, thus improving their disposable income levels as well as positioning them as better economic agents.”
Sun News
