Dr. Betta Edu, Nigeria’s newly appointed Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, recently discussed revamping the Npower youth employment program.
Dr. Edu recognized in her statement that the existing Npower initiative is defective and unsustainable given that it has only touched 993,000 of the 5 million Nigerian adolescents it was intended to reach. The initiative should be “totally rejected” in its existing shape, she demanded.
Dr. Edu provided details of her plans to improve Npower.
New payment procedures to guarantee prompt money release, an increase in the number of beneficiaries, the use of some in humanitarian capacities, and the provision of explicit guidelines regarding participation duration are among the modifications.
The objective is to increase job growth and lower the high youth unemployment rate.
She acknowledged that overhauling Npower would be difficult and that new loopholes will appear.
But she emphasized that the program needed to be fixed in order to win back the public’s trust and deliver valuable skill development and employment.
The Ministry hopes to shortly wrap up the Npower revamp’s formalities and relaunch a better model that focuses on empowering Nigerian youth. Dr. Edu begged with the youth to be patient as the ministry worked on the changes.
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