Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has said discussions were ongoing to absorb exited and eligible N-Power beneficiaries into government programmes.
The Minister who stated this in a statement signed by her Special Assistant on Media, Mrs. Nneka Anibeze, on Thursday in Abuja, therefore urged exited beneficiaries to exercise more patience while her ministry tries to sort things out.
“We have directed Focal Persons of National Social Investment Programmes in the states to submit an updated list of the exited N-Power beneficiaries that are interested in participating in the transition plans of the ministry.
“Meanwhile, approval has been given for the payment of the outstanding stipends for the exited N-Power Batches A and B beneficiaries.
“The approval for payments for up to the month of June, 2020 for the two Batches has already been forwarded to the office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF) for final checks and payments.
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“The only outstanding approval waiting to be forwarded to AGF’s Office is for the payment of July Stipends for batch B beneficiaries,” she said.
The statement disclosed that the ministry has requested for details of those affected and the reasons for their rejection from the AGFʼs office with a promise to communicate that to the affected beneficiaries.
However, the Minister assured that “if the rejection was in error, those affected should rest assured that they will be paid all that is due to them as soon as the error is rectified by the AGFʼs office.”
Meanwhile, the Minister has explained that the Batches A and B N-Power beneficiaries knew from the beginning that the programme was for 24 months.
She said the non-disengagement of Batch A beneficiaries after 24 months was done out of exigencies of the time.
Umar-Farouq stated that exiting Batches A and B after 40 and 24 months respectively was in line with the conditions laid down at the time of their enrolment.