Nigeria engages 176,160 graduates under youth empowerment programme
President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria
London, Nov. 12, 2017 (AltAfrika)-The Federal Government of Nigeria says 176,160 graduate beneficiaries had so far been deployed under the N-Power programme of its Social Investment Programmes (SIPs).
The N-Power programme is aimed at addressing the challenge of youth unemployment by providing a structure for large scale and relevant work skills acquisition and development
The figure was made known in excerpts of a book entitled: ‘‘Making Steady, Sustainable Progress for Nigeria’s Peace and Prosperity: A Mid-Term Report Card on the Buhari Administration’’.
The book authored by the Presidential Media Team, is to be presented to the public on Nov. 16.
According to the book, the N-Power programme, which has reached 200,000 graduate beneficiaries from all 36 states including Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory ( FCT), has deployed 176, 160 beneficiaries.
It stated that out of the 25, 840 selected applicants left, 11, 884 beneficiaries were disqualified (after physical verification) or had incomplete records.
It further added that the remaining 13, 956 beneficiaries were absent from physical verification.
It noted that 46 per cent of the total 200, 000 beneficiaries selected were female to ensure gender balance while 1, 126 applicants with disabilities emerged successful.
It also added that a centralised Project Management Unit was currently being set up to carry out monitoring and evaluation of the programme across the six geopolitical zones.
“In addition to this, an MoU has been reached with the National Orientation Agency to also carry out monitoring and evaluation in all 36 states including the FCT.”
.Beneficiaries are expected to channel skills acquired to fixing inadequate public services and stimulating the larger economy.
The N-Power programme includes the N-Power Volunteer Corps which targets 500,000 graduates, the N-Power Knowledge which targets 25,000 non-graduates and the N-Power Build which targets 75,000 non-graduates.
“The non-graduate component to kick-off once procurement is completed; the next batch of 300,000 beneficiaries are to be selected soon.”
More programmes under the SIPs are the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme aimed at increasing enrolment and completion rate at the primary school level.
Others are the Conditional Cash Transfer aimed at providing targeted money transfers to poor and vulnerable households and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme aimed at providing financial service access to traders.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the book is a documentation of the notable achievements of the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Party (APC) administration since it was inaugurated on May 29, 2015.
Buhari wrote the foreword of the 348-page book, which contains milestones of all the Federal ministries and some select department and agencies of government, in the last two years.
