PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari has announced the approval of the increase of N-Power and GEEP beneficiaries to one million.
He has also declared that the number of pupils fed through the Federal Government’s funded school feeding programme should be increased to five million.
In a tweet on his verified Twitter page on Thursday, the president attributed the decisions to his administration’s pledge to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty.
“We remain committed to the plan to lift 100m Nigerians out of poverty. To this end, I have approved an increase in scope of our Social Investment Programme: Doubling of @npower_ng beneficiaries to 1 million; 1 million new @geep_ng beneficiaries & 5 million new pupils for @NHGSFP,” the president said.
The N-Power Programme is a job creation and skills empowerment programme of the Federal Government. It is designed to help young Nigerians acquire and develop life-long skills to become practical solution providers in their communities, enabling them to become innovative players in the domestic and global markets.
The programme such as N-Build, N-Creative and N-knowledge, which is designed for young people between the ages of 18 and 35, targets non-graduate applicants. For the graduate programme, the initiative includes N-Agro, N-Health, N-Teach and N-Tax. And under Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programmes, GEEP, there are interventions such as Trader Moni, Farmer Moni and Market Moni.
The National Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP) aims to deliver a cost-effective home-grown school feeding programme with a specific focus on increasing school enrolment, reducing the incidence of malnutrition especially among the poor; empowering cooks while supporting local agriculture through smallholder farmers, thereby stimulating economic growth through the socio-economic value chain.
Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development oversees many of these initiatives, some of which have now attracted wide allegations of corrupt practices.
Marcus bears the light, and he beams it everywhere. He's a good governance and decent society advocate. He's The ICIR Reporter of the Year 2022 and has been the organisation's News Editor since September 2023. Contact him via email @ [email protected]