From Okwe Obi, Abuja
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has said the selection process of the Batch C beneficiaries will be transparent and base on merit contrary to speculations of the exercise would be marred by nepotism and favouritism.
This is even as she noted that next batch of N-Power beneficiaries would be administered through the National Social Investment and Information Management System (NASIMS) to ensure transparency.
She made the remark on Thursday at the launch of the system, developed to optimize and complement the structural reforms of Social Investment Programs and other activities of the ministry, in Abuja.
Farouq stated that the ICT tools will be systematically used for coordination, administration, monitoring and stakeholder management across all Social Investment Programmes under the ministry.
According to her, “to ensure transparency, institutional memory and dynamic impact assessment of the N-Power cluster, Batch C will now be administered through the National Social Investment and Information Management System (NASIMS).
“Through this portal, beneficiaries will receive their stipends on time, have access to a wide range of industry specific content for leveraging enterprise learning, communicate their concerns and promptly receive feedback from the program implementation teams.
“They will experience a redefined and seamless beneficiary verification process, including efficient transition and exit management plan which will enable beneficiaries to be migrated automatically to the NEXIT Programmme for possible placement and employment opportunities with federal government agencies.”
“The selection process of the N-Power programme will be based on merit and equitable representation across all strata of the country.
“Selection will ensure equitable regional and gender representation including persons living with disabilities.
“Following safety concerns due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ministry has taken concrete steps to ensure that the recruitment and onboarding of N-power beneficiaries is carried out with relevant public safety protocols with a greater percentage of the onboarding process taking place online, utilizing the NASIMS framework.”
She added: “N-Power Batch C launched today, is structured to onboard one million beneficiaries beginning with an initial 500,000 in the first stream and another 500,000 in the second stream.
“This is in line with President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next ten years.
“All applicants for Batch C are however required to log into the N-power self service portal on www.nasims.gov.ng and update their records after which they will proceed to take the mandatory online test to progress to the next level of selection.
“Information on how to log into the portal will be sent through sms and email to all Batch C applicants.”