There is confusion among many of the 200,000 candidates selected for the Federal Government’s N-Power programme concerning their place of assignment as the scheme officially takes off today, December 1, 2016, DailyTrust’s findings show.
The Presidency had about two weeks ago said that 200,000 graduates employed under the N-Power would resume work on December 1.
“Between now and the end of the month, the states and the FCT would be engaged in deploying the graduates who would formally start working and earning their stipends on December 1, 2016,” the Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and Publicity, Laolu Akande, had said in a statement.
On the complaints by many of the selected applicants that they were yet to receive letters of deployment, Akande told DailyTrust on Wednesday that states were responsible for the placement of participants.
The vice president’s spokesman said that those selected would get their first salary in December. “Everything is set. The money is already available,” he said.
“The states will deploy them to their places of primary assignments. It is not a permanent job. Rather, it is a two-year intervention programme for unemployed graduates.
“All the states have keyed into the programme. The states are responsible for the deployment of the selected applicants. The states are already contacting them. The deployment started about a week ago.
"Some states are already doing this and others will follow suit. After the states have deployed them to their places of primary assignments, they (the selected applicants) will get letters on information about where they will work.”
We don’t know our fate
Checks last night revealed that many of the shortlisted participants were in the dark as to where and when they will be working. Findings also showed that there are no liaison offices for the programme in most states.
One of the successful applicants, who only gave his second name as Suleiman, said he and many of his colleagues were confused. “I was successful but nobody told me anything yet, either through letter confirming the placement or even a text message or phone call,” he said.
Suleiman, who had been unemployed since graduating from the university 12 years ago, said his initial joy of making the shortlist of successful candidates was gradually fading because of the seeming uncertainty.
Another successful candidate called Kyari said he was also confused. “They said our work starts tomorrow but I don’t know where to go and report. I was selected for the teaching component, but which school would I go?
“I’m really getting agitated about the whole thing. I wish the federal government will get this thing right so that we would not get frustrated at the end of the day.
“I don’t want free money, I want to be posted somewhere to work and earn the N30, 000 stipend, not to just sleep at home and go to the bank at the end of the month,” he said.
“There is no communication about our deployment as at today (last night). We haven’t received a text message as promised,” one of the beneficiaries, Mohammed Lawal of Jos-North, Plateau State, said.
In Kano, most of the applicants interviewed by a reporter said that although they were aware of today’s arrangement but were unsure of where and when they would be posted.
When contacted, Rivers State Commissioner for Information, Dr Austin Tam George, said he had no information about the project.
Lagos State Commissioner for Wealth Creation and Employment, Babatunde Durosinmi-Etti, told a correspondent that he had not been briefed and wouldn’t want to speculate on the programme.
In Imo State, the Commissioner for Information, Youths and Public Utilities Engr. Obinna Nshirim, said that he was not sure if the state would start today as expected, adding that he would like to make inquiries on the issue.
Source: DailyTrust
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