Why N-Power beneficiaries request anti-corruption organizations to look into Minister 2

arewafacMarch 16, 2023

Why N-Power beneficiaries request anti-corruption organizations to look into Minister ?

From Paul Orude Bauchi

N-Power beneficiaries have urged President Muhammadu Buhari to order anti-graft agencies to look into the activities of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development.

The investigation is being requested in an effort to safeguard the lives of 500,000 beneficiaries who have suffered unfair treatment from the Ministry.

The ministry, led by the Minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, was urged to launch an investigation into the abrupt dismissal of Batches A and B N-Power Beneficiaries. This investigation should be conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Crimes (ICPC).

A petition titled “Petition Against the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in Respect of the Disengaged 500,000 N-POWER Beneficiaries in Batches A & B” signed by Comrade Bashir Usman Gobirp, the National Chairman, Association of Exit N-Power Beneficiaries of Nigeria on behalf of the 500,000 Exit N-Power Beneficiaries, requests an investigation into the disengagement of the 500,000 N-POWER beneficiaries.

According to Gobirp, “the ministry should be investigated to find out the whereabouts of the unpaid and/or withheld five months’ worth of allowances for 14,000 N-Power Beneficiaries of batches A and B as well as the non-payment of exit packages for the 500,000 beneficiaries of batches A and B.” These obligations were made by the honorable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development in accordance with the President’s instructions.

According to him, it is necessary to look at the accessibility and availability of the NEXIT site, which was introduced to allow the disengaged batches A and B N-Power beneficiaries access to the CBN’s empowerment program.

I therefore, in accordance with your legislative duty, ask the Commission to take necessary legal measures against any person who may be found wanting in the mishandling of the N-Power monies, which has resulted in immeasurable miseries, deprivations, and even fatalities for 500,000 people, he said.

The N-Power program, he said, is one of the laudable initiatives launched by the President Muhammad Buhari led administration with a view to training youths to acquire vocational skills, thereby making them self-reliant and by necessary implication, employers of labor, through the establishment of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

He continued, “The program was launched on June 8, 2016, as part of the Federal Government’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), to provide a structure for extensive and relevant vocational work—skills acquisition and development, in particular—to the nation’s growing number of unemployed youths.

He claims that the project was intended to endure for two years, with the first batch (A) starting in 2016 and the second and third batches (B and C) following, respectively.

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According to a formal statement made by the Honourable Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouk, the total number of the engaged youths under the N-Power program stood at 500,000.00, made up of the two batches, i.e., batches A and B. The participants were drawn from all 744 LGAs in the nation, and were eligible to receive the pitiful sum of N30,000.00 per month until June 2020.

According to Bashir Usman, “it is also important to note that an N-Power beneficiary is entitled to an exited-monetary package and/or capital at the exit-point in accordance with the program’s objective and President Muhammadu Buhari’s policy directive, which will allow him/her to finally find something that will serve as a final settlement.”

When batches A and B’s tenure was allegedly said to have expired sometime in 2019, before the actual time, there were persistent calls and peaceful demonstrations at the FCT – Abuja by the affected N-Power Beneficiaries from across the country over the non-payment of the exit package and absence of an exit plan, he claims. According to him, this is the Burning Issues/Complaints..

The National Coordinator explained that the critical burning issues with regard to the exited N-Power batches A and B include but are not limited to: the abrupt dismissal of Batches A and B N-Power Beneficiaries by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development under the leadership of Hajiya Sadiya Um.

Additionally, 14,000 beneficiaries of batches A and B each owe five months’ worth of unpaid allowances, while 500,000 beneficiaries of batches A and B who left the program were not paid their exit packages.

Another worrying development was the NEXIT portal, which was set up to give disengaged batches A and B access to the empowerment program but is no longer functional and available, making it a farce in addition to other policy infractions and breaches.