The newly appointed Nigerian Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, recently spoke about reforming the government’s Npower employment program for youth.
In her statement, Dr. Edu acknowledged that the current Npower program is flawed and unsustainable, having only reached 993,000 Nigerian youth out of a target of 5 million. She called for the program to be “totally rejected” in its current form.
Continue Reading…
Dr. Edu outlined plans to overhaul Npower to be more effective. The changes would include new payment modalities to ensure timely disbursement of funds, expanding the number of beneficiaries, utilizing some in humanitarian roles, and providing clear guidelines on duration of participation. The goal is to boost job creation and reduce high youth unemployment.
She admitted facing many challenges in reforming Npower, with more loopholes emerging. But she stressed the need to fix the program to restore public trust and provide impactful skills training and jobs.
The Ministry aims to soon conclude modalities for the Npower overhaul and relaunch an improved version focused on empowering Nigerian youth. Dr. Edu pleaded for patience from youth as the ministry works on the reforms.
Leave a Reply