Laolu Akande, the media aide of Vice President, Yemi Osinbajo, said in a statement released on Tuesday, that at least 149,669 Nigerian graduates of the 200,000 engaged by the Federal Government under the N-Power Volunteer Corps, are now collecting their monthly stipends of N30,000 monthly having been physically verified and deployed across the 36 states and FCT.
He said the beneficiaries on government pay roll have been physically verified and deployed, while their bank accounts have also been matched with the Bank Verification Number.
The SSA said that, in December, about 112,475 of the N-Power graduate beneficiaries received the N30,000 monthly stipends, and the number came close to 150,000, both in January and February meaning about that number are now receiving their up-to-date stipends from the N-Power Volunteer Corps.
Akande also noted that now beneficiaries across the 36 States of the Federation, and the FCT have been verified, totaling the 150,000 figure. He said the balance 50,000 of the 200,000 beneficiaries engaged by the FG are those who so far could not be paid for various reasons.
This includes those who were disqualified during verification on the basis of age-over 35, and inadequate academic qualification. The N-Power is for university, polytechnics and College of Education graduates only. There were also some of the selected 200,000 who were ‘no shows’ meaning they simply did not report for verification at all.
Others who could not be paid were those whose personal information details were faulty, including those whose marital status had changed.
There are also those who used different names and differing personal information. And lastly there are also those whose banking information simply do not match with their BVN banking records.
In the case of those whose marital status have changed, Akande explained that their information is now being updated through the various States and FCT Focal Persons and then they would be represented for payment. He also disclosed that those who have sought redeployment to other states are among the 50,000 and in such cases, they will be considered alongside those to be replaced from the N-Power waiting list where necessary.
The process for the replacement of those who did not show up and those disqualified would also resume shortly to bring the number back to 200,000 for the first batch of the 500,000 promised by the Buhari administration.
