Nigerian govt suspends Buhari’s N-Power over alleged fraud

The Federal Government has suspended the N-Power programme over alleged fraud in the scheme.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu disclosed this in an interview on TCV on Saturday.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration launched the N-Power Programme on June 8, 2016, as a component of the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) to address youth unemployment and increase social development in the country.

In the programme, the minister said the government would investigate how funds released for the programme were spent by the handlers since its inception seven years ago.

Edu said: “We must go back to look into N-Power and understand what the problems are so we will basically suspend the programme for now until we are done with proper investigation into the utilisation of funds into the N-Power programme.

READ ALSO: Nigerian govt explains invitation of ICPC to probe alleged fraud in N-Power

“We want to know how many persons are basically on the program right now, how many persons are owed, the amount they are owed. We are totally restructuring the N-Power and expanding it.

“There are lots going on. We met people who were supposed to have exited the programme last year and they are still claiming that they are still teaching.

“Sometimes we contact the school or the places where they are working and they are not there. They are not working yet they keep claiming that they are being owed eight or nine months’ stipends.”

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