Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu has revealed that the operation of the N-Power programme along the lines of irregularities compelled the current administration of President Bola Tinubu to carry out a comprehensive review of the scheme for the benefit of all Nigerians.
The Minister explained that this was one of the reasons behind the suspension of the program.
The initiative was launched by former President Muhammadu Buhari-led in 2016 and was aimed at addressing the issue of youth unemployment and helping increase social development.
According to Edu, the program thrives on irregularities within the scheme which must be investigated while noting that some beneficiaries on the payroll should have exited the program in 2022.
Speaking during an interview on TVC News which was monitored by our correspondent on Saturday, Edu said, “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are so we will suspend the program for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilization of funds into the N-Power program.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now, how many persons are owed, the amount they are owed. We are restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.
“Lots are going on. We met people who were supposed to have exited the program last year and they are still claiming that they are still teaching about 80 per cent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries.
“Sometimes we contact the school or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months stipends.”
The Minister noted that the new development is to ensure that government support gets to the most vulnerable in the country.
