Over one million Nigerians have lost their jobs under the N-Power programme of the Federal Government following the indefinite suspension of the scheme by the government.
The N-Power programme was established by the administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari to address youth unemployment as beneficiaries were paid 30,000 naira monthly stipend.
It is a component of the National Social Investment Programme put in place by the previous administration through the onboarding of 1.5 million unemployed Nigerian youths (mostly graduates), providing capacity building, targeted tenured employment and structured of-boarding unto various career paths.
In February this year, figures obtained from the Humanitarian ministry in Abuja indicated that the programme had enrolled 200,000 youths in Batch A; 300,000 in Batch B; 510,000 in Batch C1; and 490,000 in Batch C2.
Although the number of beneficiaries who had exited the scheme could not be confirmed at the time of filing this report, it was gathered that virtually all enrollees in batches C1 and C2 were still enrolled in the scheme, representing about one million persons.
Many N-Power beneficiaries teach in primary schools across the country.
But recently, the Federal Government announced the indefinite suspension of the programme and vowed to investigate the funds spent on the scheme.
Punch