THE Federal Government has suspended the N-Power programme.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, announced the indefinite suspension of the programme during a live interview on TVC News.
Edu said the programme had been marred by irregularities, adding that the government had launched an investigation into the utilisation of funds since the inception of the scheme.
She added that some of the beneficiaries of the programme were not found in their places of assignment, yet they were receiving monthly stipends.
Edu also stated that some of the N-Power beneficiaries ought to have exited the programme in 2022, but were still on the payroll.
She said, “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are; so we will basically suspend the programme for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilisation of funds by the N-Power programme.
“We want to know how many people are basically on the programme right now; how many people are owed and the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring N-Power and expanding it.
“There are lots going on. We met people who were supposed to have exited the programme since last year and they are still claiming that they are teaching.
“Sometimes, we contact the schools 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. About 80 per cent of them are not working, yet they are claiming salaries.”
