FG Unable To Afford N300b Demands For N-Power Beneficiaries

Federal Government  states that it cannot afford the N300billion payment demand by the N-Power beneficiaries.

The 500,000 beneficiaries made their demands through their representatives during a protest in Abuja on Thursday.

The beneficiaries requested that the  Government should employ all of them and also pay them a grant of N600, 000 each.

The Federal Government is currently conducting an enrolment exercise to absorb 400,000 youths in the scheme in continuation of its move to empower youths as the present beneficiaries exit the scheme by the end of this month.

Reacting to their demands, the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, said their demand was not covered in the engagement agreement signed at the onset of the programme.

It further explained that it had so far spent  billions on the current beneficiaries in the last four years.

This is contained in a statement in Abuja on Friday by the Deputy Director Information of the Ministry, Rhoda Iliya.

The statement reads: “The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, observed on Thursday, July 23,  a rally at the National Assembly which later proceeded to the Federal Secretariat Complex.The protesters claimed to be representatives of the Federal Government’s  N-Power beneficiaries that are about to be exited."