The N-Power programme has been suspended indefinitely, according to the federal government.
The declaration was made by Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, on a TVC news programme on Saturday.
She said that the scheme’s flaws were what led to the decision, saying that the government had started an investigation into how the money was used ever since the programme started.
The Minister noted that even though some of the beneficiaries are missing from their places of assignment, they nevertheless anticipate receiving monthly stipends.
According to her, some of the beneficiaries ought to have exited the program 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 programe 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 program 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”.
