The Federal Government on Monday, August 23, commenced the Batch C stream 1 of its N-Power programme.
The ministry of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development commenced the enrolment process of the third batch of beneficiaries on June 26, 2020.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, said over six million applications were received from interested applicants.
She however said batch C will absorb 510,000 beneficiaries in the first stream and 490,000 beneficiaries in the second stream.
She further explained that under Batch C1, 450,000 have been selected to benefit under the graduate component while 60,000 beneficiaries will be non-graduate beneficiaries.
According to the Minister, under the graduate components, beneficiaries will receive monthly stipends of N30, 000 while the non-graduate beneficiaries would be paid an N10, 000 monthly stipend.
The programme is created to help young Nigerians acquire and develop life-long skills to become active players in the domestic and global markets.
Beneficiaries are expected to be absorbed in education, agriculture, health, building, ICT and creative industry sectors.
Speaking about the scheme, Farouq said: “All beneficiaries are granted an appropriate starter pack for their trade to enable them start their businesses in their chosen trades.”
To ensure hitch-free payment and information process, the minister also said some innovations have been introduced into the N-Power selection and payment processes such as the creation of the National Social Investment Management Systems (NASIMS), partnership with key MDAs including the NYSC, the UBEC, the NPHCDA, the NOA to effectively implement its interventions.
“To ensure that the challenges of communication are addressed, most particularly as it relates to limitations on information flow and internet access across the country and in a bid to provide accessibility to all target programme applicants and beneficiaries, the Ministry has concluded to provide access to information via a USSD code.”
The Minister explained that the USSD short code *45665# has been secured via integration to provide the required connectivity and technical support for the provision of information services to beneficiaries.
