FG suspends N-Power programme, probes irregularities

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Ms Betta Edu, has said the federal government would suspend the N-Power programme indefinitely.

Edu, who announced this during an interview with TVC News on Saturday, also said the ministry is currently investigating alleged irregularities since the programme’s inception.

According to her, some of the beneficiaries ought to have left the programme since 2022 but are still in the payroll.

The minister 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 fund into the N-Power program.

“We want to know how many persons are basically on the programme right now, how many persons are owed, amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.

“There are lots going on. We met people who are supposed to have exited the program since last year and they are still on claiming that they are still teaching.

“Sometimes we contact the school 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 percent of them are not working yet they are claiming salaries.”