Npower News On Npower

According to Npower News on Npower, the Federal Government has said the ongoing restructuring of Npower will bring about the employment of five million Nigerian youths in five years.

This was contained in a statement by the Npower National Programme Manager, Akindele Egbuwalo.

Egbuwalo appealed to Nigerians to understand the rationale behind the temporal suspension of Npower and the subsequent restructuring of Npower, saying the Federal Government was working to restore confidence in Npower.

According to Dr Egbuwalo, “The restructuring and transformation of Npower will also birth an expanded programme to reach beneficiaries aged between 18-40 years, contrary to the previous age limit which was 35 years.

‘"We are targeting 5 million beneficiaries in 5 years at a pace of 1 million per year under the graduate and non-graduate stream.”

Giving a further glimpse into what a restructured Npower would look like, the National Programme Manager disclosed that it will accommodate some new programmes, in Education, Health, Works, Agriculture, Technology, Fashion, Entertainment and other relevant areas of skill acquisition and employability.

“To earn the confidence of Nigerians in the expanded programme, transparency and accountability will be the benchmark. It shall no longer be business as usual as we make concerted efforts to put the nation on the right footing, ensuring that no one directly or indirectly unleashes suffering on Nigerians”, he said.

Dr Egbuwalo, explained that suspension of Npower became imperative following the discovery of sharp practices and to also give room for a detailed investigation into its operations in the last twelve months.

His words: “There is a need to audit the number of people in the programme, those who have exited the programme, those who are being owed, whether they reported to work or not and how funds have been utilised over this period.

“Recently, we discovered instances of Npower batch c beneficiaries whose participation has elapsed since 2022 but have remained on Npower and continue to expect Npower payments from the government. In addition, some Npower batch c beneficiaries must honour their obligation to the Npower programme.

“They do not report to their places of primary assignments as required but still receive monthly Npower payments.

“These instances have made the need for a thorough audit imperative, as we also look into claims of Npower batch c beneficiaries yet to receive Npower payment for up to eight to nine months to ascertain the veracity of their claims”

Dr Egbuwalo, assured all Npower batch c beneficiaries with genuine claims that the Federal Government will not owe any Npower batch c beneficiary as it will resolve all cases and honour all valid outstanding obligations once the Npower  validation exercise is completed