The take-off of
the Federal Government’s youth employment scheme, N-Power, has become
enmeshed in scandal and controversies as applicants and other Nigerians
raise the alarm over processes employed in the selection of the first
batch of the 500,000 proposed intakes.
Aside questions over set criteria for
shortlisting the successful applicants, several Nigerians alleged
“padding of the list” as strange names that do not reflect the
demography of some states and local governments populate the released
names of the 200,000 unemployed graduates said to have scaled through
the selection process.
The project, which is being coordinated by the Office of the Vice
President, involved a number of ministries and agencies, including those
of Health, Education, Agriculture, Labour and Employment among others.
Under its first phase, successful
candidates are expected to serve as teachers, agriculture and health
personnel in the programme billed to commence December 1.
In a statement announcing release of the list of successful
applicants, Senior Special Assistant to the Vice President on Media and
Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, explained that “of the 200,000 first batch,
150,000 of them would teach, 30,000 would work in the agricultural
sector and 20,000 in healthcare delivery.”
Employees under the scheme, Akande said,
are expected to be posted to local government areas of their residence
so that their work would be a form of community service, as the Federal
Government is to only offer a stipend of N30,000 monthly for the
graduate employees.
However, when names of successful
candidates were published on the scheme’s websites, several persons
expressed amazement as to the strangeness of some of the names to the
assigned local governments.
States with such obvious cases of alleged mismatch include Borno, Adamawa, Zamfara, Kano, Katsina and Kebbi.
One key example being cited is the case
of Abadam Local Government Area of Borno State where, according to a
resident of the area, over 90 percent of those said to be employed from
the local government do not have names that resemble those of its
residents.
A Maiduguri-based social media and youth activist, Comrade Abubakar Sadiq Kurbe,
alleged that “people of Borno were fully marginalised in the 200,000 N-power list, by one part of the country, especially in one of its local governments, Abadam.
alleged that “people of Borno were fully marginalised in the 200,000 N-power list, by one part of the country, especially in one of its local governments, Abadam.
“The list shows that 92 percent doesn’t
reflect the names of applicants from Abadan Local Government Area, we
must join hands together and say NO to injustice, NO to corruption and
lopsided selection.”
A Facebook user, Abdu Adamu, equally
wrote: “Abadam is one of the Borno local gov’t that suffered the
BokoHaram attacks which forced its citizens to become IDPs in Maiduguri
and Niger Republic.
“How comes names like Grace, Favour,
Oyebisi, Adebayo, Onilola, Okechukwu appeared on the N-Power list as
those from Abadam, wait a minute, it is not Ibadan but Abadam, did you
hear me loud?
“Don’t give me the crap of “residing
citizenry”, if the indigenes can move to Niger and Maiduguri as IDPs,
how can non-indigenes stay back and even fill an online portal where the
internet connection is non-existing?”
An applicant from Kano, who did not make
the list, Maryam Gatawa, narrated her predicament and how she made
spirited efforts to get the job.
She said: “I have been in the labour
market for like three years now. I’ve applied to various job vacancies
both at state and federal levels, but so far nothing comes up. So this
N-Power was my hope. I really put my mind in it.
“I registered and I was sent a reference
number through my gmail. I was in Sokoto when results of the tests were
announced. I didn’t receive any message either through text or mail as
my friends did. But still I went to the cafe to try my luck; network
problems, however, marred my effort. I had to go back for about five
times to the cafe but still I couldn’t even access the server.
“Yesterday a friend sent me a link of
the lists. I checked but my name isn’t there. Seriously I’m sad! I
thought this N-Power is not like other hot cake vacancies. I truly put
my hope, I thought I’d get in, this time and leave this labour market.
Alas, I was wrong. Perhaps God has something better for me.”
However, defending the process adopted,
Akande explained to our correspondent last night the criteria used in
arriving at the list of 200,000 entrants, even as he defended
accusations of padding in the list.
According to him, “There were three
criteria; the first thing was to pick 40 percent of applicants from
every state. We then gave a special consideration for North-east states
of additional 4,000 applicants. We looked at the condition of the
North-east in arriving at this. Third, for states with low applications,
we gave them special considerations. If you take state like Zamfara,
virtually everybody who applied from there got it, about 90 percent.”
Akande also explained that all states of
the federation and the FCT were involved in the project, as they all
appointed focal persons for the exercise.
He maintained that those focal persons
are in possession of the master list of all applicants with their
contact details, and are in the position to verify if those applicants
stay in their states or not.
The presidential aide added that because
there was no money to give to anybody to settle at their places of
posting, that was why it was made a point that all applicants should
refer to their places of residence.
“Everything was done online. In places
where there were internet challenges, some of the local leaders
organised to get information from their people which they now uploaded
to the site. There is no case of importation of any names at all. The
exercise was done as transparently as can be done,” he said.
Text courtesy of Blueprint. Photo shows Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, whose office coordinates the N-Power scheme.
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