FG can’t afford N-Power requirements of N300 billion for beneficiaries demand-Rhoda Iliya
The Federal government on Friday said that N-Power beneficiaries are demanding a combined grant of N300 billion.
However, he made it clear to the beneficiaries of the scheme that the government could not afford to allocate such a sum as a grant.
The Federal Ministry for humanitarian Affairs, disaster management and social development said a rally of some N-Power beneficiaries took place in the National Assembly on Thursday .
It said the rally later continued at the Federal Secretariat complex in Abuja, as the protesters claimed to be representatives of the Federal government’s N-Power beneficiaries, who were about to walk out.
Rhoda Iliya, Deputy Director of the Ministry, said in a statement released in Abuja on Friday that the protesters had asked the Federal government to hire all 500,000 N-Power beneficiaries, as well as pay them a grant of N600,000 each .
She said “ ” the Ministry would like to state that this requirement was not part of the co-operation agreement they signed with the Federal government, which clearly stipulated that they would be withdrawn in two years.
“In addition, the government cannot afford the N300billion that they requested as a grant. ”
The Ministry said it should be noted that the Federal government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars on N-Power beneficiaries over the past four years.
It said that the Ministry is currently liaising with the office of the Federation’s accountant General, the institution responsible for paying scholarships to N-Power beneficiaries, in order to ensure that any outstanding legal claims are resolved.
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He insisted that the Federal government could not afford to endlessly pay scholarships to retired N-Power beneficiaries, especially since the process of attracting new beneficiaries had already begun .
The Ministry claimed that although it is not a credit Agency, it is contacting other ministries, departments and agencies, such as the Central Bank of Nigeria, to see if exiting beneficiaries can contribute to their empowerment programs.
