In this piece, AJUKA OKAH analyses how the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has saved 1.5 million Nigerian youths from the shackles of poverty, unemployment and insecurity, through the N-Power, under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) being implemented by the ministry.
Regardless of criticisms against the policies of the federal government over the years, the common agreement of discerning Nigerians is that the President Muhammadu’s administration has created an enviable record that will be difficult to break by successive administrations, with regards to tackling poverty, unemployment and insecurity through job creation.
During his electioneering campaign in 2014, President Muhammadu Buhari promised positive changes in Nigeria, through revamping the economy, curbing corruption and improving security. This led to millions of Nigerians massively voting for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in 2015, thereby displacing or dethroning the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) that has been in power for 16 years.
To walk the talk, in 2016, President Buhari created the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which was overseen by the office of the Vice President, until the creation of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD) in 2019, which took over the NSIP, with Sadiya Umar Farouq as pioneer minister overseeing the numerous intervention programmes of the ministry.
The NSIP houses the National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), the Job-Creation Unit, popularly known as N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Government Enterprises and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), among others, which are aimed at ensuring that Nigerians are lifted from poverty.
Poverty situation in Nigeria
in 2018, the World Poverty Clock (WPC), an online tool that monitors the progress against poverty globally and regionally and provides real-time poverty data across countries, declared Nigeria the poverty capital of the world, with more than 87 million people out of over a 200 million population, said to be living in extreme poverty, overtaking India, which had 73 million people living in extreme poverty.
However, in an update in March, this year, considering the COVID-19 pandemic economic effect, WPC said that India has once again surpassed Nigeria as the nation with the highest number of extremely poor people.
According to its data, extremely poor people are those living on N800 per day (less than $2 per day). According to the new data, about 83 million Indians have been plunged into extreme poverty in 2022, representing 6 percent of the country’s population, which stands at 1.3 billion.
For Nigeria, WPC said 70 million people are living in extreme poverty, representing 33 percent of Nigeria’s over 200 million population, while in 2020, the National Bureau Of Statistics (NBS) said that more than 80 million Nigerians live in extreme poverty (on a dollar per day).
For a country with over 200 million population, with more than 70 million people said to be poor (against 83 million people in India), graduate unemployment is commonplace, while school leavers and those unfortunate enough not to gain any form of tertiary education have to make do with menial jobs to eke out a living in rural and urban areas.
Interestingly, on May 27, 2022, the WPC said that Nigeria has a population of over 214 million people (214, 598, 240), with 83,005, 482 people (representing 39% of the total population) living in extreme poverty, including 53% in rural areas, 9% in urban areas and also specifying that the affected class include 39% females and 39% males in both urban and rural areas.
On the other hand, India, with a population of over 1 billion people (1,406,156, 288), with 83,068, 597 people (representing 6% of the total population) living in extreme poverty, including 9% in rural areas, 0.8% in urban areas and also specifying that the affected class include 5% females and 7% males in both urban and rural areas.
N-Power
Upon the creation of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development (FMHADMSD) on August 21, 2019, President Buhari mandated the pioneer minister, Sadiya Umar Farouq, to rescue millions of Nigerians out of poverty through job creation, especially using the NSIP and the many agencies under the ministry, including NEMA, NEDC, NCFRMI.
The N-Power programme, targeted at Nigerian youths, especially school leavers (non graduates) and school graduates between the ages of 18-35, ensures that beneficiaries earn N30, 000 monthly stipends from the federal government until they are exited from the programme or secure permanent employments, thereby helping young Nigerians to acquire and develop life-long skills that ensure they become solution providers and entrepreneurs in their communities.
From inception, N-Power had three core segments, including N-Power Volunteer Corps (for graduates), N-Power Build (for non graduates) and N-Power Knowledge- which is also a non-graduate programme for ICT-inclined Nigerians and that embodies the N-Tech Hardware, N-Tech Software and the N-Creative training programme.
However, recently, more segments have been embedded into the N-Power programme such as the N-Skills, which is for youth with no formal education, who would be trained in different vocational skills and trades. The Mobile Money Agents is also for the financial inclusion of this youth segment.
Nevertheless, many N-Power beneficiaries, comprising Batch A and Batch B have been exited from the programme; in order to make way for the commencement of the Batch C programme that is currently being implemented, with over 1.5million Nigerian youths empowered since the inception of the programme in batches A, B and Batch C.
In August 2021, the federal government flagged-off the N-Power Batch C programme for one million beneficiaries across the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Batch C is divided into stream C1 of 510,000 beneficiaries and stream C2 for 490,000 beneficiaries while under the Batch C1, a total of 450,000 have been selected to benefit under the graduate component, while 60,000 beneficiaries will be non-graduate beneficiaries.
Being an all-inclusive programme, N-Power focuses primarily on unemployed Nigerian youths with the aim of developing their employability and entrepreneurship skills and capacity, which is geared towards making these youths, self-reliant and future employers of labour after going through the learn-work-entrepreneurship culture of the N-Power programme.
The N-Power graduate programme, where beneficiaries receive a monthly stipend of N30,000, has three subdivisions:
The N-Teach: Young Nigerian graduate volunteers, are trained to function as support teachers across public primary schools nationwide.
The N-Agro: Young Nigerian graduate volunteers are trained and provided with learning modules and courses across different agricultural topics to work as agriculture extension officers to support farmers in the agricultural sector.
The N-Health: Young Nigerian graduate volunteers are trained to work as public health assistants to support health care officers nationwide. They are also trained to provide communication and advocacy services to the patients at the health centres.
On the other hand, the N-Power Non-Graduate Programme, where beneficiaries receive N10,000 monthly stipend is aimed at building a highly competent and skilled workforce of technicians, artisans and service professionals, through accelerated training and certification programs that engage and train selected Nigerian youths. In efforts to revive the economy, these blue- collar professionals are provided with tool sets to add value to their respective sectors after they exit the programme.
To achieve its objectives, the N-Power Non- Graduate Programme is broken into 3 programme streams including:
N-Power Build: This is a three month in-centre training programme, which aims at building competence and capacity in highly demanding technical and vocational skills including; Automobile, Agric. Tech, Carpentry & Joinery, Electrical Installation, Hospitality, Masonry & Tiling, Plumbing and Pipefitting.
To further ensure the beneficiaries get the most from the program, the government made an investment to acquire required Tool Kits, Safety Gears, Training Consumables and directly invest in selected trainees through providing training and development programmes. Trainees under this programme also undergo a six-month apprenticeship programme upon graduation from their respective training centres.
N-Knowledge: This program targets the training and development of communication device technicians, web designers and web application developers as well as those in the creative industry. The Program aims to inject thousands of certified trainees into the ICT industry. The Program is sub-divided into N-Tech Hardware and Software Components. Trainees under the N-Tech Hardware are trained to become mobile phone and laptop technicians while the N-tech Software trainees will become software and app developers, respectively.
N-Power Creative: In the N-Power Creative programme, we train unemployed Nigerians in creative skills, such as 2D and 3D amongst others. The goal is to make them world-class intellectuals in the creative world.
The strategy is to put Nigeria’s creative industry on the global radar as exporters of world-class services and content. Trainees in this field are provided with starter packs apart from their monthly N10,000 stipends.
The N-Creative programme is an in-camp 3 -month training programme where trainees are groomed in one of the following N-Creative courses: Animation, Illustration/Graphic Design, Post-production, Script Writing and Voice Acting.
Trainees in this field are provided with starter packs apart from their monthly N10,000 stipends. In all of these, life skills training are imparted to all beneficiaries to enable them to make good use of the opportunity that they have.
NEXIT training
With regards to the laudable achievements by the minister in implementing the N-Power programme, the Ministry successfully exited the 500,000 Batch A and B N-Power beneficiaries in 2020 and received about 6.4 million applications for batch C. From Batch A and B, 109,823 beneficiaries have gone on to set up businesses in their communities, underlining and highlighting the impact and importance of the N-Power programme.
Encouragingly, in order to prevent those who have exited the programme from falling back into poverty, the FMHADMSD has perfected plans to ensure that the exited N-Power beneficiaries, codenamed NEXIT, are empowered with loans to set up or sustain existing businesses under NEXIT CBN Agric Business, Small and Medium Enterprises Scheme (AGSMEIS).
The FMHADMSD, in collaboration with the G-Consulting International Services Ltd, on March 14, commenced the training of 467,183 out of 500,000 exited batches A and B N-Power beneficiaries from the 36 states of Nigeria and the FCT on empowerment skills; in order to access loans from the CBN to set up businesses and curb unemployment under NSIP.
From available records, 467,183 applicants were submitted for the confirmation process in February this year. From the records, 182,976 were females while 284,191 were males. 16 did not specify. 263,998 of these applicants confirmed their availability to participate in the training programme.
The N-Skills programme
The N-Skills programme, a component of the N-Power programme, is based on a certification system and accreditation of practical training provided through the informal apprenticeship system anchored by Master Craft Persons (MCPs) and the formal training system, including using the Community Skills Development Centres (COSDECs) in many states.
In March, the federal government commenced the training of 6,475 N-Skill beneficiaries nationwide on smart phone repairs, equipping them with the necessary tools and providing N20,000 monthly stipends to the beneficiaries under N- Skills.
While the training accommodated many skills-based enterprises, the Smart Phone repairs was used to pilot the programme under the N-Power non-graduate component, providing the trainees with the opportunity to learn and develop competence in Smart Phone repairs business and earn a living; rather than wait for white collar jobs.
Also, as the programme aims to ease the transition of target beneficiaries to full-time skilled employment, self-employment and further their education, it also targets the marginalised and disadvantaged population, including those with primary or no formal education, in line with the National Skills Qualification Framework (NSQF) for the development, classification and recognition of skills, knowledge and competencies acquired by individuals; irrespective of where and how the training or skill are acquired.
On successful completion of the training, certificates of attendance and starter packs, including rework soldering stations, digital multimeters, sets of precision screwdriver, repair tool kits and magnifying lamps, were distributed to the beneficiaries to start their businesses.
Having completed the training, the beneficiaries were attached directly to MCPs in the trade, for a six-month apprenticeship. (The MCPs are masters of smart phone repairs, who were also trained and certified by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE).) The six-month attachment would enable them to have work-based learning experience.
Therefore, in the six-month attachment period, the performance of the beneficiaries will be assessed and examined by the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB), which will lead to the issuance of NBTE certificates to those that meet the minimum requirements.
Also, in a bid to bridge the gap between the rural communities and the financial services required, the Ministry came up with the Mobile Money Agents programme, a nationwide effort under N-Power, which trained and equipped 1,850 agents (50 agents per state) with tools such as: Point of Sales (POS) machines, fingerprint scanners, plastic chairs, plastic tables, outdoor umbrellas and hardcover ledgers.
Beneficiaries commend FG
Speaking at the end of the six-week N-Skill training in Kano, one of the beneficiaries of the N-Skills programme, Maha Jamilu Alkali, commended Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq for facilitating the training, which he said will go a long way in addressing the high rate of unemployment among youths in the state, adding that he was selected without knowing anyone and would use the acquired skills to earn a living and cater for his family.
Also, at the end of the training in Ebonyi, President of Persons with Disabilities in the state, Mr Moses Nwalo, pledged that the tools would be judiciously utilized, thanking the federal government, on behalf of beneficiaries with disabilities for the programme aimed at curbing unemployment.
Similarly, one of the beneficiaries in Plateau, Salihu Abdullahi, thanked President Muhammadu Buhari and Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq for their relentless efforts in lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty through different programmes, expressing gratitude to the federal government for giving him and other beneficiaries the opportunity to participate in the N-Skills programme.
Also, speaking with our reporter at the NEXIT training, a Batch A N-Power beneficiary, Mrs Jennifer Ahanatu, said that she has been using savings from her N-Power days to engage in small scale businesses and hoped to get a loan from the CBN to sustain her business.
“Just like the N-Power programme, I was surprised when I applied for the CBN AGSMEIS programme and was selected even without knowing anyone. I didn’t know that the ministry is that transparent. I look forward to getting the required training in the next five days in order to know how to go about accessing loans from the CBN to support my bakery and farming business,” she said.
Similarly, Daniel Ifeanyi, a Batch B beneficiary, who is into poultry business, said that the latest intervention by the federal government is a testimonial to the fact that President Muhammadu and the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Umar Farouq, are really serious about lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty and curbing unemployment.
“This is the best programme that can be sponsored by the federal government. I was able to save some money during my N-Power days. However, it has not been easy since my batch was exited. I was happy to be selected for the CBN AGSMEIS training and I look forward to accessing the loan to support my poultry business,” he said.