Okwe Obi, Abuja
Over five months after the Federal Government opened the portal for the N-power batch C registration, it has not shortlisted names of successful candidates.
Recalled that on June 26, 2020, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, had announced the enrollment of 400,000 enrollees following the disengagement of over 500,000 beneficiaries drawn from Batch A and Batch B respectively.
Sequel to the closure of the registration on August 9, Farouq disclosed that “a total of 5,042,001 Nigerian youth have applied as at the end of the exercise. The ministry will follow a transparent process for selecting qualified beneficiaries out of those who applied.”
Daily Sun gathered that those who applied for the scheme were not notified either via SMS or E-mail if their applications were successful or not.
Even though she had been accused of doling out slots to legislators, she “re-assured Nigerians that due diligence will be applied during the next stages of the selection to ensure that only duly qualified applicants are enrolled. The Ministry will ensure that the applicants, as well as the general public, are kept fully informed on the progress of the scheme.”
The Minister had revealed that “we are still working towards ensuring a transition plan that will further engage or absorb exited Batch A and B, into other programmes,” but nothing has been done.
The N-power programme is designed to assist young Nigerians between the ages of 18 to 35 to acquire and develop life-long skills for becoming change makers in their communities and players in the domestic and global markets and given a stipend of N30,000 monthly.