The federal government has announced the indefinite suspension of the N-Power programme.
Minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation, Dr Beta Edu, made the announcement on Saturday.
She said the decision was caused by some irregularities within the scheme, noting that the government had launched an investigation into the utilisation of the funds since the programme began.
The minister said some of the beneficiaries were not found in their places of assignment, yet they expected monthly stipends.
According to her, some of the beneficiaries ought to have exited the programme since 2022 but are 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 utilization of funds.
“We want to know how many persons are basically on the programme right now, how many persons are owed, and the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring N-Power and expanding it.
“Sometimes we contact the school or 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 percent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries,” she said.
The N-Power programme was launched by the administration of former president Muhammadu Buhari to address the issue of youth unemployment and help increase social development.
