Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the extension of the age limit for N-Power enrolment to 40 years under a restructured programme which will aim to capture five million youths in five years under the scheme.
Africa Today News, New York recalls that the programm initially had its age bracket pegged from 18 to 35 years, however, it has now been made 18 to 40 years.
N-Power National Programme Manager, Dr. Akindele Egbuwalo, assuaged concerns about the program’s potential temporary suspension by stating that it was being reorganised and expanded to include more people and cover one million beneficiaries annually for five years.
He claimed that the N-Power program’s ongoing restructure would result in the employment of five million young Nigerians in five years and expand the plan to include other programmes that weren’t previously included.
Special Adviser to Dr. Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Rasheed Zubair, reportedly appealed to Nigerians to understand the rationale behind the temporary suspension of the N-Power programme and the subsequent restructuring it is undergoing, saying the Federal Government was working to restore confidence in the programme.
‘This restructuring and transformation will also birth an expanded programme to reach beneficiaries aged 18 to 40, the previous age limit was 35. We are targeting five million beneficiaries in five years at a pace of one million yearly under the graduate and non-graduate stream.
‘To earn the confidence of Nigerians in the expanded programme, transparency and accountability will be the benchmark. It shall no longer be business as usual, as we make concerted efforts to put the nation on the right footing, ensuring that no one directly or indirectly unleashes suffering on Nigerians,’ he said.
Egbuwalo explained that suspension of the programme became imperative following the discovery of sharp practices and to also give room for a detailed investigation into its operations in the last 12 months.
He assured beneficiaries with genuine claims that the government would not owe anybody, as it would resolve all cases and honour all valid outstanding obligations once the verification exercise is completed.