FG announces exit package for Volunteers as NPower programme ends

Volunteers of the Federal Government Social Investment Programme, popularly known as NPower were on Wednesday thrown into a panic mode as government hinted on the end of the programme yesterday.

The Senior Special Adviser to the President on Social Investment, Mrs Maryam Uwais made this known to Npower beneficiaries in Bayelsa yesterday urging them to prepare for life after N-power Programme.
She stated this at the official flag off ceremony of the MarketMoni/ TraderMoni programme, cash transfer programme, and home grown school feeding programme in the state.
The Presidential aide said: "We hoped beneficiaries must have started their own businesses by now and pray they all succeed in their endevours because gradually the N-power programme is coming to an end."

Mrs Maryam Uwais, Special Assistant to the President on NSIP

According to Mrs Maryam Uwais, the federal government in collaboration with state government and private sectors are routing for more ways to engage volunteers as they gradually come to the end of the program.
She, however, announced that the Bayelsa state governor, His Excellency Henry Seriake Dickson has promised to recruit N-power beneficiaries of the state.

She also said that the Federal government is in partnership with private sector in the country, and there are opportunities for those N-power volunteers nationwide willing to work in that sector one of which is the job of a bank agent, here beneficiaries will be trained on the job and they are to pay the sum of 50,000.00 Naira but this will now be paid by the federal government. We have also come to an agreement with the Inspector general of police to recruit some of our beneficiaries as community police officers.

Mrs Uwais further said that those N-power beneficiaries nationwide interested in the Agricultural sector, will be given some hectares of land to farm and a refundable loan to start with. She asked beneficiaries to always check on their NPVN profile as more updates will be made available.
Some of the NPower volunteers however expressed mix feelings concerning the promise, urging the government not to abandone them.

NPower Volunteers 

One of the Volunteers who spoke with this blog on condition of anonymity said that: "We are appealing to the federal government not to abandone us after about three years training as Teaching Assistants, Agricultural Extension workers and Auxiliary nurses. The truth is that majority of us did not start any business of our own. Like most of us in the graduate NTeach programme, we spend virtually all our stipend on transport fare to the school Monday to Friday to teach the children. So there is virtually anything left at the end of the month to save. The stipend is not enough.
"We are calling on the government to give us permanent employment because there are more than enough vacancies in our school system to accommodate the Volunteers."
NPower, this blog recalls was created by the Federal Government of Nigeria with a view to addressing the challenge of youth unemployment by providing a structure for large-scale and relevant work skills acquisition and development while linking its core and outcomes to fixing inadequate public services and stimulating the larger economy.