President Muhammadu Buhari has proposed the appropriation of N157.75 Billion in the 2017 budget estimates for the N-Power scheme, for the engagement of 350,000 more unemployed graduates, the presidency said in a statement on Sunday.
This is to allow the government hire 350,000 more unemployed graduates under the N-Power Volunteer Corps which pay 30,000 monthly as stipends as part of its Social Investment Programmes, (SIP).
Under the N157.75B also, a sum of N4.5B has been earmarked for the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics, STEM program to support young Nigerians in building skills in those disciplines.
According to the Senior Special Assistant on Media & Publicity to the President, Office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, “President Buhari has requested an appropriation of N157.75B in the 2017 budget estimates for the N-Power scheme.
“As different sections of the executive arm of the Federal Government
are now defending the 2017 budget proposals before the National
Assembly, new details are emerging on the continuation of the Social
Investment Programmes, (SIP)of the Buhari presidency, including a plan
to hire 350,000 more unemployed graduates under the N-Power Volunteer
Corps”.
The N-Power is one of the SIPs for which 500billion naira was budgeted
for both in the 2016 and 2017 spending plan of government.
Out of the N-Power 2017 N157B 2017 budget ” 350,000 unemployed
graduates more would be hired and trained, alongside 50,000
non-graduates youths to be engaged as artisans and in other creative
ventures,” Akande disclosed in his weekly update on the Social
Investment Programmes on Sunday.
Akande noted that the SIP budget proposals for 2017 are currently
being discussed this week at the National Assembly, and urged
Nigerians to expect more this year, especially in the area of
implementation as virtually all of the SIPs are now undergoing
different stages of implementation.
“While we were able to engage 200,000 unemployed graduates last year,
we will do 350,000 more this year,” he assured, adding that some of
the teething problems are giving way to lessons that would smoothen
implementation under the 2017 budget.
Equally, under the 2017 budget proposals now before the National
Assembly, Akande disclosed that about N75B has been allocated for the
National Homegrown School Feeding Programme, which will provide one
hot meal a day to 5 million primary school pupils. He explained again,
that this would certainly be an improvement on how far the feeding
programme has been implemented so far under the 2016 budget which has
so far attained the feeding of about one million pupils.
The Spokesperson to the Acting President also stated that under the
2017 budget a sum of N112.2B has been allocated for the Government
Enterprise and Empowerment Programme aimed at providing interest-free
loans to up to 1.2million market men and women, traders, artisans,
youths and farmers.
Under the GEEP, he explained that beneficiaries will receive between
N10,000 and N100,000 loans with a one-time 5% administrative fee.
Already under the 2016 budget, over 20,000 Nigerians in about 14
states and counting, have been benefiting from GEEP.
Similarly, the Conditional Cash Transfer which has kicked off in 9
states would be further expanded under the 2016 budget and will reach
more states and much more Nigerians. The plan in 2016 budget targets one million poorest and vulnerable Nigerians. And in the 2017 budget, an additional N54.98B has been allocated for the continuation of the N5000 monthly social safety net payments to the poorest Nigerians.
Akande further clarified that while President Muhammadu Buhari has
further approved another N500B this year for all the social
intervention programmes, N100B out of it has been allocated for the
Family Homes Fund as already announced by the Ministry of Finance.
“2017 implementation of the SIP is going to be far more impactful than
what we were able to do under the 2016 budget, so Nigerians should
expect more this year, the resolve of the Buhari presidency is firm
that more lives must be touched positively under this programmes which Nigerians have come to appreciate,” Akande said.
