N-Power: Over 5 million Nigerians apply for 400,000 jobs

The Federal Government has extended the deadline for applications for the ongoing recruitment into N-Power by an additional two weeks.

The recruitment portal was opened on June 26, 2020 and was scheduled to close on Sunday, July 26 for the Batch C intakes.

However, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, announced on Sunday that the deadline has been moved to August 8.

She said this was done in a bid to extend the opportunity to all Nigerians and ensure it is truly inclusive.

The minister also announced that over 5 million applications have already been received for the programme, noting that it underlines enthusiasm.

The government hopes to employ 400,000 people, both graduates and non-graduates, for the third batch.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has been accused of frustrating beneficiaries of the N-Power programme [Vanguard] Pulse Nigeria

Millions of Nigerian youths are out of work with official data on the population of unemployed not updated since 2018 when it stood at 20.9 million, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo said in June the NBS currently projects nearly 40 million people could be unemployed by the end of 2020, a situation worsened by the coronavirus pandemic.

N-Power was launched in 2016 as a key component of President Muhammadu Buhari's National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) in a bid to help Nigerian youths gain skills for employability and entrepreneurship.

It has already enrolled 500,000 youths, in two batches, into the programme with all of those beneficiaries on the way out after the stipulated two years.

Some of those being phased out have protested the government's treatment of them and issued a list of demands.

The demands include permanent employment or the payment of the sum of N600,000 to each beneficiary before disengagement, and the sack of Umar-Farouq for frustrating the programme.

The minister said on Sunday that the list of demands is being reviewed and will be addressed as practically as possible.

"Let me reiterate that the exiting of Batch A and B is not punitive but as a means of providing an opportunity for their brothers and sisters to also access the programme," she said.

Beneficiaries are paid a stipend of N30,000 monthly.