Nigeria partners with AfDB to provide $500 million fund for tech, creative sectors.

President Muhammadu Buhari promised to have an additional 1 million beneficiaries if re-elected in his ‘Next Level’ Manifesto.

The N-Power scheme was launched by President Buhari on 8 June 2016, barely a year after his first inauguration as the president of Africa’s most populous nation. The initiative was created as part of National Social Investment Program to address the issues of youth development and help increase social development. It has had 500,000 beneficiaries since inception.

The seismic rise in the country’s population with no corresponding development has had great effect on the youth population in Nigeria. With unemployment and poverty on the rise, N-Power is one of the current administration measures in mitigating one of the country’s pressing issue.

“The N-Power programme provides young Nigerians with job opportunities. It provided opportunities to over 500,000 Nigerians. In view of this, President Buhari approved the extension of the programme to 1million new beneficiaries; 500k per stream,” said Sadiya farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development while addressing the press in March, 2021

According to the federal government, the N-Power programme '“will now be administered through the National Social Investment Program of Nigeria(NASIMS)” which cuts across the whole value chain of other programmes under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management & Social Development.

On August, 23, 2021, the federal government inaugurated the first stream of about 510,000 youths. According to Sadiya Farouq, under the Batch C1, a total of 450,000 had been selected to benefit under the graduate component, while 60,000 beneficiaries will be under the non-graduate component.

The N-Power graduate volunteers are entitled to a monthly stipend of thirty thousand naira each(N30,000) for a period of a year while the non-graduate are entitled to ten thousand naira (N10,000.000) monthly stipends for a period of nine months.

The Federal Government also promised to grant all beneficiaries starter pack for their trade to enable them start their businesses in their chosen trades. This Programme will run in the 36 states and FCT.

Our ruling

The inauguration of 510,000 persons is a step toward Buhari's promise to have an additional 1 million N-power graduates. We will be watching to see if Buhari makes progress towards his goal. For now, we rate this promise In the Works.

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