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 Tablet 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 tablet 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 tablet 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 tablet 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 tablet 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.