Buhari moves N-Power to Humanitarian Affairs Ministry

Last updated on December 19th, 2023 at 12:35 pm

President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that the job initiative programme N-Power Scheme will now be under the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development (FMHDS)

N-Power is under the Special Intervention Programme, which is under the supervision of the office of the Vice-President, Prof Yemi Osinbajo since its creation in 2016.

Hajia Sadiya Umar Faruk from Zamfara State is the Minister of the new ministry.

The job initiative programme started in 2016 with 200, 000 unemployed Nigerian youth as its first batch while in 2017, another 300, 000 Nigerians were recruited.

The 500, 000 recruits are called beneficiaries under the graduate programme while hundreds of others are under the non-graduate programme. N-Power Tech, N-Build are some of the rest under the non-graduate programme.

There is no official statement whether the N-Power will be coordinated by Mr. Afolabi Imouhkuede, who has been managing the National Coordinator since the programme started in 2016.

In his 59th Independence Day Anniversary Speech Buhari stated that “Our ongoing N500bn  Special Intervention Programme continues to target vulnerable groups, through the home-grown School Feeding Programme, Government Economic Empowerment Programme, N-Power, Job Creation Programme, loans for traders and artisans, Conditional Cash Transfers to the poorest families and social housing scheme.

The president also said he had directed the release of N600bn for capital project implementation from the 2019 budget in the next three months.

Buhari said, “To institutionalise these impactful programmes, we created the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development which shall consolidate and build on our achievements to date.

“To the beneficiaries of these programmes, I want to reassure you that our commitment to social inclusion will only increase.”

Buhari who also spoke on security said the APC-led government has combated the terrorist scourge of Boko Haram.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to our gallant men and women in arms, through whose efforts we have been able to achieve the present results. We are also grateful to our neighbours and allies – within the region and across the world – who have supported us on this front,” he said.