The Nigerian government says it has mapped out an exit strategy for hundreds of thousands of unemployed graduates currently participating in the Scheme N-Power.
The strategy involves a training program in specific areas, after which graduates will receive loans to start their own businesses, Minister Sadiya Farouq said on Thursday.
The N-Power scheme, one of the Social Investment Programs (SIP) of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, involves the temporary hiring of unemployed graduates, mainly as teachers, for two years, during which they are paid a stipend of N30, 000.
Hundreds of thousands of graduates who had participated in the scheme had complained about the lack of an exit plan for them, as they are simply allowed to re-enter the unemployment market after completing the two years of the N-Power program.
Sadiya Umar-Farouq [PHOTO: Vanguard]On Thursday, Ms Farouq said an exit strategy had already been put in place.
This was said by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Social Development in the weekly briefing organized by the Presidential Communications Team.
She said the strategy is part of the exit program put in place for those who successfully completed their two-year training under the N-Power scheme.
“We have an exit strategy in partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria and out of the 500,000 beneficiaries, around 300,000 have already indicated an interest in being part of the exit program where they can be trained in various skills of their choice, after which they will receive loans from the Central Bank of Nigeria, so they can start their businesses.
“In this we have gone far and we are in the process of training those who expressed interest and I am sure that before the end of this quarter, these people will receive these loans from the CBN,” she said.
He said the loans are being handled by the central bank because “as a government ministry or agency, we don’t give loans.”
The minister also spoke about the impact of the scheme on previous beneficiaries.
“In batch ‘A’ and ‘B’, 500,000 people benefited from that program (N-Power) over a period of four years and we were giving them a monthly stipend of N30,000 while batch ‘B’ benefited for two years.
“These are people who were not employed; they had nothing to do but they were committed to having a dignified life.
“Some of them were wise enough to save from their monthly stipends and thanks to that, 109,000 of them have now become entrepreneurs and employers of labor. This is a very laudable program and people have benefited, people are being supported and it is an ongoing process,” he said.
School Feeding
In addition to N-Power, the Buhari administration has other SIPs; including the school feeding program for primary school children.
On Thursday, the minister explained that more than nine million pupils are being fed daily across the country, leading to an increase in school enrollment.
“The National Program for Own School Feeding is an all-encompassing program because it helps in the economic value chain of various communities where you feed these children using rural women to cook the food, thus empowering women as well as the local farmers who produce the crops.
“Through this program, we have impacted many people and that reaches millions of people.”
He also spoke of the ‘successes’ of the conditional cash transfer program which involves the direct payment of stipends to very poor households in rural communities.
“Through the Conditional Monetary Transfers Program, so far more than 1.6 million people have benefited. Yes, we have lifted millions out of poverty through our programs,” explained the minister.
Programs spread across Nigeria
Ms. Farouq also denied reports that her ministry’s intervention programs are only for the northeastern and northwestern regions of the country.
“That’s not true. Our ministry is for the whole country. The only ministry agency that focuses on the northeast is the Northeast Development Commission, as is the Niger Delta Commission.
“We send intervention to all parts of the country where it is needed. He also cited the state of Benue. That state cannot say that the federal government does not support them or does not give them interventions.
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“I remember very well, even when I was in the Refugee Commission, I had reason to visit Benue state on several occasions, bringing interventions to displaced people in that state. In fact, on one of those visits we went with the vice president, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. Even now, the Refugee Commission and NEMA all take interventions in Benue state,” he said.