From Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The acting President Yemi Osinbajo, has said the Federal Government did not owe N-empower employees backlog of salaries.
This is even as he disclosed that about 2.3 million youths had applied for the second batch of the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP), meant to absorb additional 300,000.
The portal for NPower to absorbed additional 300,000 into the 2017/2018 phase was reopened on June 13.
Scores of beneficiaries of the NPower job initiative protested against non-payment of their monthly stipends since December last year.
Osinbajo, during a visit to the N-Power Response Center at the Niger Delta Power Holding Company (NDPHC), said all those whose Bank Verification Number (BVN) had been verified had been paid, adding that verification was necessary in order not to pay the wrong people.
Responding to questions from newsmen after visiting the Response Center on complaints of backlog of salaries, Osinbajo said: “There is no such thing as a backlog. If your BVN is verified and everything is checked, then you are paid. There is a problem if your BVN does not match the records you gave. If there is a problem with any of your records you cannot be paid. The moment your records are cleared, then you are paid constantly. If you don’t correct these records, then you might be paying the wrong people.”
The acting President said: “Already 200,000 young people have been engaged. And since the programme was opened, another 2.3 million have applied and we are looking at the next phase of engagement.
“But for me, I think what is important is that we are able to do this incrementally and we are able to give hope to some of these young people who need the opportunity.”
“You will recall that the target was 500,000 but depending on our resources, we can always do more but the target for now is 500,000.
