The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq has given indications that the Federal Government may begin absorbing N-Power volunteers who have been disengaged from the Scheme.
The Minister also allayed the fears of the volunteers saying all outstanding stipends are being worked on and will be paid.
Speaking in a statement issued through her Special Assistant on Media, Hajiya Farouq urged the disengaged N-Power volunteers to be patient as they would soon see the fruits of her labour on their situation.
She stated that N-Power beneficiaries in Batch A and B already knew the scheme would not last for more than 24 months. She said, Batch A was not disengaged sooner because of certain exigencies at the time.
“We have directed Focal Persons of National Social Investment Programmes in the states to submit an updated list of the exited N-Power beneficiaries that are interested in participating in the transition plans of the ministry,” she said.
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“Meanwhile, approval has been given for the payment of the outstanding stipends for the exited N-Power Batches A and B beneficiaries.
“The approval for payments for up to the month of June 2020 for the two Batches has already been forwarded to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) for final checks and payments.
“The only outstanding approval waiting to be forwarded to AGF’s Office is for the payment of July Stipends for batch B beneficiaries.”
Explaining the reason for the delay in payment of beneficiaries, the minister stated that about 14,000 names had been omitted by the office of the Accountant General from the list of beneficiaries paid from March to June, 2020 because their details were rejected by the Integrated Financial Management System (GIFMIS).
She assured that if the omission was made in error it would be corrected as the system only rejects details of beneficiaries in the employment of another government agency.
She stressed the incoming Batch C, beneficiaries would be selected based on merit.
“The incoming Batch C beneficiaries will clearly know the details of their terms of enrollment and exit at the time of entry into the programme to avoid what happened in the case of Batches A and B. “Furthermore, adequate plans will be made well ahead of their time of exiting the programme to avoid what happened presently.”