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Tag: N-Power

  • Three N-power volunteers establish mini-laboratory at Otokutu PHC

    Three N-power volunteers establish mini-laboratory at Otokutu PHC

    Three female volunteers in the N-Health programme have established a mini laboratory at the Primary Health Centre, Otokutu, Ughelli South Local Government Area of Delta.

    The volunteers are Jennifer Angese (2013 Pharmacology graduate of Delta State University); Mary James (2011 Microbiology graduate of Unijos); and Harriet Azurundu (2001, BSc Microbiology – Imo State University – and 2008 MLSc –UPTH).

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the trio contributed money to purchase the equipment and establish the laboratory in April, barely four months of their deployment to the PHC to provide medical outreach to the rural community.

    Narrating their experiences when the Monitoring and Evaluation team of N-Power visited the centre, James said they felt pity for the community which had the centre for long but travelled far to access medical facilities.

    She said that rather than seek deployment they made contributions from their token to purchase the equipment in bits in order to make meaningful impact in the community.

    According to her, the equipment comprising both electrical and manual types, are worth about N100,000 but that some tests are delayed in the centre due to epileptic power and lack of alternative power source.

    She said that her colleagues were teaching in private schools and receiving pittance prior to the N-power job, but noted that the scheme had offered them the opportunity to practice their profession and gain experience.

    James said the community was excited about the development but had not made additional input due to poverty, “but we hope someone, someday will do that for the sake of the rural people’’.

    She said that due to epileptic power the lab always concluded the samples tests, and issued the results the same day of collection.

    She said some patients were referred to bigger facilities if they had to wait for the results for more than a day, “but we work for as long as possible to make patients’ results ready’’.

    Azurundu, another volunteer, added that since the provision of the laboratory no fewer than 70 patients including pregnant women, the aged and children had their blood, urine and other samples tested for proper diagnosis and treatment.

    “We assumed duty in February and since we discovered that there was no laboratory section here we decided to set up one to assist in proper diagnosis and treatment of patients.

    “The lab has been of great help; it has improved the services of the health workers in the health centre.

    “Since we started lab tests we have had almost 70 patients benefitting but we have attended to others without actually putting them in our records,’’ Azurundu said.

    She said that apart from the help that the people needed it had been her dream to be able to touch lives in one way or the other and “N-Power has given me that room and opportunity to touch lives’’.

    On her part, Angese noted that the patients were often tested free or charged only 50 per cent of the cost of the examination to encourage others to access adequate medicare due to poverty.

    The volunteers thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and Acting President Yemi Osinbajo for initiating the N-Power programme because it had touched so many lives.

    They acknowledged that from the stipends they were able also to help in family upkeep and support their siblings in their education.

    The volunteers said they were not expecting the federal government to terminate the programme after two years, but rather to strengthen it because “we will not like to go back after two years doing nothing.

    “We hope it will continue in a better way.’’

    NAN also reports that the laboratory is equipped with syringes, piercing needles, various reagents, glucometer, cotton swaps, feed stains, oil immersion, microscope, mirror, plastercine, capillary tubes.

    Others are blood-count equipment, methylated spirit, HIV reagents, puppets, EDTA collection bottles, hand gloves, wither kits, counting chamber, improvised slide racks, an electric-powered centrifuge as well as a hand-powered centrifuge.

    Mr John James, the husband of Mary James, who visited the centre at the time of the monitoring, thanked the federal government for its transparency in the recruitment of the volunteers.

    John, a Veterinary graduate-turned logistics specialist, who lost his job in December due to the death of his employer, said that the wife had been sustaining the family from her stipend.

    “N-Power is another door that has opened for our family and I encourage the volunteers not to focus attention on the stipend but ensure that they become true professionals during the two-year programme.

    “I thank God Almighty and his instrument, President Muhammadu Buhari, and pray that God grants him sound health and also his Vice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, for this programme,’’ he said.

    The Presidential aide on Job Creation, Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, expressed gratitude to the volunteers for their painstaking effort to live out the dream of the programme by impacting on the society.

    He urged them to continue in their stride as by their conduct they had opened new vistas in their lives.

    Imoukhuede also expressed gladness with the performance of the volunteers in Nana Model Secondary and Primary Schools, Warri, and those at the Central Hospital Warri.

    However, he told the Medical Director of the Warri Hospital to cancel the one-day off granted to the volunteers weekly since the programme was a full time volunteer scheme without shifts, night or weekend duty.

    At a private investor integrated fish farm in Warri, Imoukhuede thanked the proprietor for making the massive facility available for the N-Agro participants to acquire more practical knowledge on fisheries.

    An N-Agro volunteer, Mrs Ese Adiomamore, told NAN that the scheme was a sure way of achieving the self-sufficiency in food production and economic diversification programme of the present administration.

  • N-Power: FG to recruit another 300,000 youths

    N-Power: FG to recruit another 300,000 youths

    The Federal Government said on Friday it would recruit 300,000 youths in the second batch of its N-Power social intervention and job creation programme.

    The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed, disclosed this at Isanlu-Isin community near Omu-Aran town in Kwara State.

    Mohammed said the federal government would “reopen the N-POWER portal by next week to commence the process for the recruitment.”

    He urged the youths to take advantage of the recruitment exercise by completing the application process online, adding than 200,000 people benefitted from the first batch of the programme.

    The minister said at least 27,000 people had benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfer programme, while government had given 7,000 interest free loans to market men and women across the country.

    Mohammed said the home grown school feeding programme of government had covered over 1.2 million pupils, adding that Kwara State would be on the list of the social intervention programme in September.

    NAN

     

  • N-Power beneficiaries count gains after five months of empowerment

    N-Power beneficiaries count gains after five months of empowerment

    SOME beneficiaries of the Federal Government’s N-Power under the National Social Investment Programme (N-NIP) have hailed the initiative after five months of empowerment.

    N-Power is one of the components of N-SIP, aimed at empowering Nigerians both graduates and non-graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 by paying them N30, 000 monthly over a period of two years.

    Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke with the News agency of Nigeria (NAN) yesterday in Abuja, said the programme had established them and taken them out of poverty.

    Nwanjel Alfred, a beneficiary of N-Power graduate scheme in Plateau said he was employed under the scheme and posted to a Nomadic Primary school as a teacher.

    He said: “I graduated in 2011, did NYSC in 2012 and I was not employed for five years. I studied Biology Education but have passion for agriculture.

    “There is no capital to start agric project. But as soon as I started receiving my stipend in December 2016, I went into farming.

    “I have been able to plant and harvest 15 bags of Irish potatoes seedlings and I thank God the potatoes are doing well.

    “Hopefully in July, I should be able to harvest 50 bags from the farm.”

    Alfred, however, appealed to the government to ensure the sustainability of the programme by giving them full employment after the two years duration of the programme.

    Similarly, a beneficiary from Taraba, Jeremiah Daniel, who graduated in 2008, said he became a photographer as there was no job.

    “I am a photographer turned a teacher, courtesy of N-power and I have been able to embark on contributory scheme from my stipends.

    “We are six posted to a secondary school in the state, we contribute N30,000 (all the stipend) and I have received N180,000 from the first round of contribution and I want to open a cyber café.

    “I have been able to render such service in a rural community in addition to the photography,’’ he said.

    Daniel said the government had promised to also give them digital device as part of the programme to empower them technologically.

    He said the government had been paying N4,500 monthly to a company that would supply the electronic gadgets, which they promised would be ready for disbursement in June.

    Daniel, however, advised youths to desist from involving in social vices and engage in business to support and make them self-reliant.

    Also narrating his experience, Okoka Owa, a beneficiary of N-power in Cross River, thanked the Federal Government for coming up with such a programme.

    “I have been able to save N10,000 monthly from the N30,000.

    “I want to open a foodstuff shop from the money I will get from the contribution,’’ she said.

    Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation (N-Power Scheme) Mr. Afolabi Imoukhuede  said no fewer than 200,000 of 500,000 youths targeted had been empowered under the N-power programme in the country.

    The N-Power programme recruits and trains young unemployed graduates as teachers, agricultural extension workers and health support workers, etc.

    The presidential aide said the N-power scheme was being implemented under the N-SIP as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari during his campaign to help poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

  • N-Power: beneficiaries count gains after five months of empowerment

    N-Power: beneficiaries count gains after five months of empowerment

    Some beneficiaries of the Federal Government N-Power under the National Social Investment Programme (N-NIP), have started counting the gains of the programme after five months of empowerment.

    N-Power is one of the components of N-SIP, aimed at empowering Nigerians both graduates and non-graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 by paying them N30, 000 monthly over a period of two years.

    Some of the beneficiaries, who spoke with NAN on Wednesday in Abuja, said that the programme had established them and taken them out of poverty.

    Nwanjel Alfred, a beneficiary of N-Power graduate scheme in Plateau said he was employed under the scheme and posted to a Nomadic Primary school in the state as a teacher.

    “I graduated in 2011, did NYSC in 2012 and I was not employed for five years; I studied Biology Education but have passion for agriculture.

    “There is no capital to start agric project but as soon as I started receiving my stipend in December 2016,  I went into farming.

    “I have been able to plant and harvest 15 bags of Irish Potatoes seedlings and I thank God the potatoes are doing well.

    “Hopefully in July, I should be able to harvest 50 bags from the farm,’’ he said.

    The beneficiary, however, appealed to the government to ensure the sustainability of the programme by giving them full employment after the two years duration of the programme.

    Similarly, a beneficiary from Taraba, Jeremiah Daniel who graduated in 2008, said he became a photographer as there was no job.

    “A photographer turns a teacher, courtesy of N-power and I have been able to embark on contributory scheme from my stipend.

    “We are six posted to a secondary in the state, we contribute N30,000 (all the stipend) and I have received N180,000 from the first round of contribution and I want to open a cyber café.

    “I have been able to render such service in a rural community in addition to the photography,’’ he said.

    Daniel said that the government had promised to also give them digital device as part of the programme to empower them technologically.

    He said that the government had been paying N4,500 monthly to a company that would supply the electronic gadgets, which they promised would be ready for disbursement in June.

    Daniel, however, advised youths to desist from involving in social vices and engage in business to support and make them self-reliant.

    Also narrating his experience, Okoka Owa, a beneficiary of N-power in Cross River, thanked the Federal Government for coming up with such a programme.

    “I have been able to save N10,000 monthly from the N30,000.

    “I want to open a food stuff shop from the money I will get from the contribution,’’ she said.

    Meanwhile, Mr Afolabi Imoukhuede, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation (N-Power Scheme), said no fewer than 200,000 out of 500,000 youths targeted had been empowered under the N-power programme in the country.

    The N-Power programme recruits and trains young unemployed graduates as teachers, agricultural extension workers and health support workers, etc.

    The presidential aide said the N-power scheme was being implemented under the N-SIP as promised by President Muhammadu Buhari during his campaign to help poor and vulnerable Nigerians.

  • 174,000 N-power volunteers receiving stipends without delay – FG

    174,000 N-power volunteers receiving stipends without delay – FG

    At least 174,000 N-power volunteers in the Federal Government’s Social Intervention Programmes (SIPs) are being paid N30,000 monthly stipends without delay, a Presidency official has said.

    Mr Afolabi Imokhuede, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation, made this known in a chat with State House correspondents in his office in Abuja.

    According to Imokhuede, “As we speak right now, about 86 per cent of them really have been paid.

    “Now when I mean 86 per cent after physical verification, as at last count in end of April we had about 174,000 qualified, verified volunteers out of 200,000.

    “We are currently right now doing a final reconciliation with all the states and FCT just to ensure, because we also found out that there were few cases of computation error, a few cases of omission at the point of digitizing the physical master list.

    “The only ways we can know that; or some states get to know, is when these volunteers call the helpline or send e-mails complaining of non-payment.

    “We then say to them; you cannot be paid because our records show that you are absent from verification.’’

    The Presidential aide said the programme had been using focal persons, using N power coordinators in the states to act as the go-between the government and the volunteers to cross check their data.

    He added that the complaints about non-payment arose because some volunteers could not reconcile their entries at the time of application with the information they presented during the validation exercise.

    Imokhuede said most invalid verifications were caused by wrong Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) of the volunteers which could not be linked to the accounts they had submitted.

    He also said some women, who applied with their maiden names but submitted their BVNs with their husband’s surnames also had issues with the verification.

    He said a lot of them also applied in conformity with their certificates but a lot of such certificates were not in tandem with their BVN data.

    “All of those categories of volunteers always come out invalid.

    “What we did, which is important, is make payments through the technology platform recognising that NIBS, (Nigerian Interbank Settling System), is the custodian of all the BVN in Nigeria.

    “We brought in NIBS as a key stakeholder.

    “What we do on monthly basis is to send the records to NIBS which does the validation; and those who pass through the validation have no issues and get their payments,’’ he added.

    He said the verifications were to protect the volunteers from fraud or being short changed by those who assisted them in entering into the programme through corrupt cybercafés.

    The SSA said there were some few “no shows’’ who did not accept the appointment adding that the plan was for the states to pick the volunteers on their waiting list to fill in the vacancies.

    He said once the volunteers received their stipends regularly, the N-power paid the backlogs.

    He said no fewer than 43,000 volunteers received they backlogs about two weeks ago while another 16,000 was approved for payment last week.

    “What we intend to tell all our volunteers is to focus on getting your account updated and once done your backlog definitely would come through,’’ he advised.

    Imokhuede said the programme had also set up emergency measures for about another 15,000 who still battled with their invalid BVN by using the N-power call centres to call them to print their BVN in order to see their name as captured.

    He said the N-power intended to get the problem behind soon in order to begin the recruitment of new volunteers.

    He said the programme had a bill of about N6 billion and was processing the sixth month already.

    He said excluding those not captured; the programme had so far expended about N26 billion since inception.
    He also stated that about 17 volunteers in Taraba, who were discovered and suspended from the programme for fraud and absconding from their places of posting, would soon face prosecution.

  • N-Power: Beneficiaries in Nasarawa protest non-payment of five months stipend

    Some beneficiaries of the Federal Government N-power programme in Nasarawa have protested the non-payment of their five months stipend.

    News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the protesters who carried placards and leaves, marched for over five kilometres from the Lafia Branch of United Bank for Africa to the Government House.

    Spokesman of the group, Abdulkareem Isiaka, said most of their members have not been paid since the programme started five months ago.

    He said the protest was to draw the attention of the concerned authority to come to their aid by ensuring that they get their money as at when due.

    “All those who are yet to be paid have already reported to their respective places of primary assignment.

    “We have reported to the authority at the various local government areas, yet nothing was done about it hence the need for the protest.

    “Maybe they are not reporting the case to the appropriate authority, but with this protest now the authority will be aware that something like this is going on,” he said

    NAN reports that the protesters were accompanied by security agencies while no government official came out to address them.

     

  • Gombe screens 2,698 persons for N-power programme

    At least 2,689 persons have been screened in Gombe State for the first batch of the N-power programme, an official has said.

    The Focal Officer of N-power in Gombe, Hajiya Maryam Mele, told journalists in Gombe on Friday.

    Mele, who is also the Special Adviser to Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo, said the state was allocated 16,000 slots for the entire programme, the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports.

    “We are lucky because out of the 36 states and FCT, Gombe was among the 14 states that beat the deadline of December 15, 2016, to enable the beneficiaries collect their stipends.

    “We commend the Federal Government because some of the beneficiaries have started receiving their December alert of N30,000,’’ the official said.

    She called on those that yet to receive the alert to exercise patience because it is a gradual process.

    Mele also appealed to the beneficiaries to reciprocate government’s effort and do what was expected of them.

    She announced that the beneficiaries would soon be posted to their various places of assignment.

    “We are just waiting for primary and secondary schools to fully resume; your posting will be out” she said.

     

  • N-power applicants protest extortion by officials in Ebonyi

    Youths from the 13 Local Government Area of the Ebonyi state enlisted for the N-Power documentation exercise Monday protested alleged extortion from organizes of the programme which marred the exercise.

    It was gathered that the unemployed youths numbering over 200 who had besieged the venue of the documentation exercise as early as 7am had earlier yielded to the directive of the organizers to go to No 29 Gunning road Abakaliki and pay the sum of N500 to enable them be documented.

    However, trouble started when the organizes directed them at about 02; 30pm to go back to their different local government areas for further directive.

    The youths, angered by the directive to return back to their council areas after waiting several hours in the scorching sun trooped to the entrance gate leading to the Governor’s office and blocked the entrance.

    They insisted that either the Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Job Creation, Hon Donatus Njoku or any other government functionary must address them before they would vacate the entrance.

    After several hours of waiting at the entrance gate of the Governor’s office without any government functionary addressing them, the youths had to troop back to No. 29 Gunning road where most of them had  paid the sum to retrieve the money they had already paid to the agents of the organizes of the documentation.

    Some of the youths who spoke to our reporter on grounds of anonymity expressed regret over the procedure and the slow pace of the exercise and wondered why the organizes would insist that they must pay the sum of N500 before they would be attended to.

    When The Nation visited the makeshift pay point at the heart of the Abakaliki Main Market, hundreds of the youths had besieged the office protesting the alleged extortion and called for the immediate arrest of the organizes.

    Meanwhile, there was a mild drama at the venue of the makeshift pay point when some unidentified hefty young men numbering about 5 drove to the place with a Hilux Van with registration number AKL 342 SB and immediately bundled a young man and a lady stationed at the point to be collecting the money and zoomed off.

    The youths who suspected connivance and attempt to whisk the suspects away to avoid arrest, immediately went after the vehicle but their chase was in vain.

    When our Correspondent visited the Cabinet Office to get the reaction of organizes of the documentation, it was observed that all the organizes had disappeared while the unemployed youths were seen in clusters discussing the unfortunate exercise.

    The State Commissioner for Economic Empowerment and Job Creation, Hon Donatus Njoku could not be reached for reaction as he was said to be in a State Executive Council meeting.

  • 200,000 N-Power employees for verification before deployment

    The 200,000 graduates offered jobs by the Federal Government under the N-Power Volunteer Corps (NPVC) will face physical verification before deployment in their areas of service, the Presidency said yesterday.

    Over 90 per cent of them have been verified using the Bank Verification Number (BVN).

    A statement by the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Laolu Akande, warned that any untrue information submitted during the application process is a ground for disqualification.

    He said all states and the FCT through the focal persons appointed had received the list of the 200,000 employees. They are working on deploying beneficiaries in their places of assignment.

    He explained that by using the BVN which is one of the most viable means of identification in the country today, there is hardly a way anything fraudulent could sail through the process.

    “We are confident that the selection process, all the way through with the BVN, and physical verification at the points of deployment in the states and the local government areas, are both transparent and impossible to abhor ghost beneficiaries, or any kind of fraud,” he said.

    According to him, 93per cent of those selected have been screened through the BVN, with the commendable assistance of the Nigerian Inter-Bank Settlement System Plc, NIBSS, and only authentic and verifiable beneficiaries will be paid the N30,000 monthly stipends starting December.

    He said: “Besides the BVN, there is going to be physical verification, through an in-built component in our selection system that requires that information submitted online during the application would have to be authenticated at the point of deployment across the country, including verification of academic credentials and residence status.

    “Claims about some applicants claiming to be residents of states would be dealt with if it turns out such claims are false. If an applicant cannot supply proof of residence, the selection is terminated.

    “There is a good chance that some applicants may have failed to complete the forms online accurately. Such errors are being reviewed and anyone found not to be resident in the Local government would be removed and replaced using the waiting list of applicants.

    “An important aspect of the application was that applicants were told in clear terms that any false information would be grounds for disqualification.” he added

  • At last, N-Power takes off

    •A good start, but ultimately, the government’s duty is to provide a good business climate

    At least 200,000 graduates will leave the country’s unemployment queues on December 1, when they are expected to begin a new life under the N-Power Programme initiated by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration. The programme is in fulfillment of one of the president’s campaign promises when seeking the mandate of Nigerians for the presidency last year. The new employees, distributed as follows: 150,000 as teachers, 30,000 to work in the agriculture sector and 20,000 in healthcare delivery are part of the larger N-Power Volunteer Corps that will eventually engage 500,000 graduates.

    Laolu Akande, the vice president’s senior special assistant on media and publicity who disclosed this said, “all together, the N-Power will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates. It is a paid volunteering programme of a two-year duration that engages graduates in their immediate communities, where they will assist in improving the inadequacies in the education, health, and agriculture sectors” and they would be trained in skills that will enable them exit after two years to economically viable jobs and business opportunities. Each of them will receive N30,000 monthly stipend.

    In a country where unemployment rate is high and many graduates are roaming the streets in search of non-existent jobs, the programme is a welcome relief, especially given its interventionist nature. It will also enhance efficiency in our ailing public services, especially in its core areas of basic education and primary healthcare. Moreover, it will help in the country’s efforts at self-sufficiency in food production. It is a way of investing in the human capital development of Nigerian youths.

    Without doubt, the country has deficits in the educational, agricultural and healthcare sectors where the new employees are to serve. Their employment is expected to bridge such deficits. That they are to serve in their immediate communities also ensures that they do not spend excessively on accommodation and transportation.

    We therefore urge the states and Federal Capital Territory where they would be deployed to take full advantage of their services. On their part, the employees too should be diligent at their duty posts so that when they are exiting after the two years, they would have benefited immensely and whatever experience they might have acquired would be able to see them through self-employment because the white collar jobs are simply shrinking.

    However, we must stress that it is not the business of government to create jobs. Rather, its duty is to create an enabling environment for investors to set up businesses. Therefore, the government should do everything possible to ensure that the programme remains what it was designed to be: an interventionist scheme that would take away the graduates from the unemployment queues, thus preventing them from being idle, at least in the short term.

    The government must make power available and stable. We appear to be moving in circles as regards the power sector and industrialisation will remain forlorn without steady power supply. It is about time for the government to read the riot act to the new managers of the power sector. Wherever the government’s attention is required in the power mix, this should be looked into. It is only when the power sector has been substantially fixed that more jobs can be created and more Nigerians gainfully employed.

    Unemployment situation in the country has gone beyond taking a few thousands off the queue; indeed, that would only look like a drop in the ocean, given the huge number of graduates that our schools turn out every year.