N-Power investigation

• This is necessary for accountability and review, for more efficiency

Established in 2016 by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration, the N-Power Scheme was conceived as part of that government’s comprehensive National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), to mitigate poverty.

Its major objectives include creation of jobs for at least 1.5 million unemployed youths in its graduate and non-graduate components, as well as providing capacity building to enhance entrepreneurship and targeted tenured employment resulting in sustainable career paths for participants. 

Other tranches of the NSIP include the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Government Enterprise and Investment Programme and the Conditional Cash Transfers to the most vulnerable segments of the population. Citing sundry irregularities observed in its operations, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr Betta Edu, last week announced the indefinite suspension of the N-Power Scheme, saying this was necessary to enable proper investigation, restructuring and ultimate expansion of the scheme.

According to the minister, it had been discovered that many participants in the scheme are often absent from their places of primary assignment while still demanding to be paid purported outstanding monthly allowances. Again, it was found out that a number of beneficiaries in batches one and two who ought to have exited the scheme in 2021 and September, 2022, respectively, to make way for new entrants, are still on the payroll. It has also been stressed that there is the need for the ministry to accurately ascertain the total number of participants in the scheme and how many of them are being owed allowances.

Indeed, the issue of unpaid allowances is a major reason for the impending probe into the N-Power Scheme. Some participants are reportedly owed stipends for eight to nine months. In a statement, the National Programme Manager, N-Power, Dr Akindele Egbuwale, disclosed that “Preliminary findings of our audit have shown that some consultants are holding on to beneficiaries’ funds disbursed to them long ago even though their contracts ended in March, 2023, without any renewal.

“We condemn this practice and will not tolerate it, going forward. Work is ongoing to identify those involved, understand why the payments didn’t get to the final beneficiaries and recall the funds to pay those owed”.

While the idea of the NSIPs, including N-Power, had been widely commended, concern had always been expressed as regards the lack of a reliable database of beneficiaries to ensure effective actualisation of its objectives and the opportunity for corrupt enrichment that this could create. The ongoing updating of the National Social Register by the ministry should help clean up the register, eliminate ghost participants and reduce fraud. So much scarce public resources have been committed to the NSIPs; so, all avenues for their corrupt diversion by unscrupulous officials must be blocked.

According to the former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, in February, this year, over N1.358 trillion had been invested in various aspects of the programme since 2016.

We commend the ministry for the planned restructuring and expansion of the programme to go beyond the previous age limit of 35 to reach persons between 18 and 40 years old. Apart from expanding the scheme to encompass new programmes in education, health, works, agriculture, technology, fashion, skill acquisition and employability, the ministry has set a new target of five million beneficiaries in five years, at a pace of one million beneficiaries per year.

The potential benefits of the N-Power Scheme are immense and indisputable. For instance, the N-Power assessment report prepared by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) revealed that in 2017, 200, 000 youths were engaged in the scheme, reducing youth employment from 23.6% to 16.6%. In 2018, another 300,000 youths were engaged, again reducing youth unemployment from 23.6% to 29%. We urge the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation to conduct its investigation, restructuring and expansion of the scheme as swiftly as possible without compromising thoroughness and efficiency so that the N-Power Programme can quickly get back on track.