Nigeria’s Acting President Yemi Osinbajo has ordered the reopening of online jobs portal N-Power, to allow more unemployed Nigerians apply for jobs.
Zainab Ahmed, Minister of State, Budget and National Planning who made this announcement said that the government would scale up the National Social Investment Programme (N-SIP) to accommodate more beneficiaries, and advised youth to apply for the Federal Government’s N-SIP.
So far N-SIP takes credit for empowering over 1.6 million Nigerians through its four components: N-Power, National Home Grown School Feeding Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer, as well as the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme.
“There is opportunity in the N-Power Programme for employment. There is an opportunity in the GEEP for you to get finances to be able to start businesses. Please, this is real, it is working, join the process and be a beneficiary.’’
Mrs. Ahmed said that the process was initially delayed due to government efforts to eliminate fraudulent applicants and to render the process transparent. She said the program had not reached its set target because of delays in the initiation of its implementation.
“We want to make sure that the programme is planned properly. We want to make sure that each beneficiary has a bank account linked to the BVN,’’ said the minister, adding that the program is intended for specific people who are in need of employment, and not individuals who are “nominated” by people of influence.
“It took a lot of time but we thank God that the programme is going on well and it is now easier to upscale it,’’ stated Mrs. Ahmed.
