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The Federal Government has reiterated its commitment to adequately fund various schemes under the National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs), including N-Power programs aimed at reducing poverty and unemployment across the country.
Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, gave the assurance in Abuja while delivering a farewell message at the end of the 6-week N-Knowledge training component of the N-Power Programme for Batch C1, which was held across the country’s six geopolitical zones.
Under the agreement, the Federal Government will train 3,000 Nigerian youths, including People Living With Disabilities (PLWD), from the North Central geopolitical zone of the country in various vocational skills.
The beneficiaries, who came from Plateau, Kogi, Nasarawa, Benue, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), went through three months of training, which included N-Power Tech, N-Power Creatives, N-Power Build, N-Power Public Health Workers (N-Health), Agriculture Extension Workers (N-Agro), and Volunteer Teachers (N-Teach).
The N-Power programme, according to the Minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq , was critical in assisting young Nigerians in acquiring and developing life-long skills that will enable them to become solution providers and entrepreneurs in their communities.
N-Power is divided into three sections: N-Power Volunteer Corps is a graduate program; N-Power Build is a non-degree program; and N-Power Knowledge is a non-degree program that encompasses the N-Tech Hardware, N-Tech Software, and N-Creative training programs (Animation and Scriptwriting).
“By now, you’ve probably figured out that the N-Knowledge program is aimed at providing young Nigerians with the necessary skills and certifications to enable them to work as competent workers, innovators, and entrepreneurs in both the domestic and global digital job markets.
“The N-Knowledge program aims to upskill 20,000 young Nigerians to put them on the map as exporters of world-class creative and information technology services and content. The 7,000-pound shortfall will be made up as soon as possible to meet the 20,000-pound target set for this tranche.
“This training component is aimed at developing youth competencies in software development, hardware training, and the creative industry, which is catalytic as well as the foundation for Nigeria to compete in the software development outsourcing market.” It will build skills and capacities along the value chain of website development and mobile app maintenance, as well as begin a talent development effort to help Nigeria’s information technology industry grow.”
Dring the training session, the Federal Government provided housing for all participants across the 24 training camps, as well as a monthly feeding allowance of N27,000 for three months and N30,000 in transportation allowances, which were split into N15,000 when reporting to camps and another N15,000 at the end of the camp.
She assured the beneficiaries that the N10,000 monthly stipends, which have already begun, would continue until the end of their apprenticeship period.
All of the training tools, according to Farouq, were meticulously designed to meet the requirements of the various program tracks in hardware maintenance, software development, and creative design.
According to her, a total of 510,000 beneficiaries have been employed in Batch C1 as a result of Mr. President’s approval to employ one million beneficiaries into the N-Power program, while Batch C2 will begin soon, enlisting more Nigerian youths into the program.
Umar Bindir, the NSIP National Coordinator, described the NSIPs as an ambitious program in a brief media interview, expressing satisfaction with the successes achieved so far through the implementation of various segments of the NSIPs.
“It’s a very ambitious program; NSIP has been dubbed Africa’s most ambitious poverty eradication program.
“If you have one million Graduates attached every month for one year, they are paid a stipend of N30,000 so every month, there is a bill of N30 billion just to pay the stipend and you can do the estimate in one year, you are talking about between N300 and N360 billion just paying for the stipend,” he said in response to questions about the funding spent on the schemes.