AT the last count 149, 669 Nigerian graduates of the 200,000 engaged
by the Federal Government under the N-Power Volunteer Corps are now
collecting their monthly stipends of N30,000 monthly having been
physically verified and deployed across the 36 states and FCT.
According to Mr. Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media &
Publicity to the President, Office of the Vice President made this
disclosure while giving an update today on the Social Investment
Programmes of the Buhari administration .
Besides, Akande added that the Federal Government has also approved an
additional N4500/monthly to all the 200,000 N-Power beneficiaries to
purchase an electronic device which would be loaded with different
applications that would further enhance the skills of the
beneficiaries and afford them additional training opportunities during
the two-year duration of the job program.
This device grant is in conjunction with the Bank of Industry (BoI)
who has extended an asset finance of 20 months to each of the 200,000
N-Power beneficiaries.
While each of the beneficiaries after being verified would select
their choice of device amongst nine different BOI pre-approved
vendors, the price ranges from N3,000 to N6,700 monthly deductions for
the next 20months.
Therefore in some cases the N4500 device grant would cover the full
monthly deduction cost while in other cases the graduate authorizes
BOI to deduct the additional differential cost from their monthly
stipends depending on the device chosen.
The Vice President’s Spokesman also noted that 6 of the 9 BOI
pre-approved vendors are indigenous local brands in pursuit of the
Buhari administration’s push for Local Content.
He said almost 100,000 graduate N-Power beneficiaries have completed
their orders for the devices as at press time, adding that the Bank of
Industry is in charge of effecting the orders made. The plan is to
conduct the order of the devices in two batches of 100,000 each, one
after the other.
It was further disclosed that all the 149,669 N-Power beneficiaries
now collecting their stipends have been physically verified and
deployed, while their given bank account information have also been
matched with the Bank Verification Number.
The SSA said that, in December, about 112,475 of the N-Power graduate
beneficiaries received the N30,000 monthly stipends, and the number
came close to 150,000, both in January and February meaning about that
number are now receiving their up-to-date stipends from the N-Power
Volunteer Corps.
Akande also noted that now beneficiaries across the 36 States of the
Federation, and the FCT have been verified, totaling the 150,000
figure. He said the balance 50,000 of the 200,000 beneficiaries
engaged by the FG are those who so far could not be paid for various
reasons.
This includes those who were disqualified during verification on the
basis of age-over 35, and inadequate academic qualification. The
N-Power is for university, polytechnics and College of Education
graduates only. There were also some of the selected 200,000 who were
‘no shows’ meaning they simply did not report for verification at all.
Others who could not be paid were those whose personal information
details were faulty, including those whose marital status have
changed. There are also those who used different names and differing
personal information. And lastly there are also those whose banking
information simply do not match with their BVN banking records.
In the case of those whose marital status have changed, Akande
explained that their information is now being updated through the
various States and FCT Focal Persons and then they would be
represented for payment. He also disclosed that those who have sought
redeployment to other states are among the 50,000 and in such cases,
they will be considered alongside those to be replaced from the
N-Power waiting list where necessary.
The process for the replacement of those who did not show up and those
disqualified would also resume shortly to bring the number back to
200,000 for the first batch of the 500,000 promised by the Buhari
administration.