Nigeria is paying USD1.9 million to 200,000 graduates, But?

graduates

The federal government of Nigeria said it is paying out about NGN6 billion to about 200,000 graduates it employed under the N-Power job creation Scheme.

Under the N-Power Volunteer Scheme, the Federal Government announced the selection and engagement of 200,000 unemployed graduates as the first batch of the half a million the Buhari administration plans to hire for the 2-year paid volunteer job programme.”

The Presidency said in Abuja on Sunday that 13 states have submitted the verified list of graduates who applied for the Federal Government jobs, otherwise called N-Power jobs. The states include Adamawa, Bauchi, Benue, Cross River, Gombe, Jigawa, Katsina and Kogi , Niger, Plateau, Sokoto, Taraba and Zamfara States. Meanwhile, verification and deployment have already been completed in Benue, Cross River and Kogi.

Giving an update on the programme yesterday, Mr. Laolu Akande, Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, stated that in some states, the graduates have been deployed to their primary places of assignment, noting that payment of the N30,000 stipends for the graduates would commence this month once verification and deployment  were done.

He said: “While the Federal Government is responsible for their monthly stipends, it is in partnership with state governments to verify the selected unemployed graduates and deploy them to their primary places of assignment since each of the volunteer graduates would be serving in their communities where they are resident.

“In virtually all the states of the federation, the verification has commenced and there are indications that much progress would be made this week in order to enable the Federal Government process the monthly payments of the already verified graduates before Christmas.

“The Buhari administration is keen on ensuring that the selected 200,000 graduates are able to draw their stipends starting this month, as plans have been concluded to release the funds once verification is completed. States have been very cooperative in working with the Federal Government so much that even in states that have not completed verification by weekend, much activities are going on towards attaining that goal.”

While N-Power Scheme has been commended, there are unintended consequences that wil further affect the structure of Nigeria’s labour force and national productivity.

Most applicants to the scheme are basically taking up those positions to get by the worst economic recession in the history of Nigeria. This will further increase underemployment, a trend that has risen more than necessary. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, 15.9 million of the total labour force are underemployed.

With a total unemployment population(underemployed and unemployed) of 27.1 million in Q3 2016, it therefore means that underemployment is becoming the biggest issue.

The government will need to make the economy more conducive for the real sector in order for better jobs to be created for young Nigerians who are taking up any job to survive by the day.

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