NLC president Ayuba Wabba: Police opens fire on protesting workers

The Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC), Kwara council, has called on the Federal Government to decentralise the operation of the N-Power programme to ensure its effective coordination and supervision.

The NLC chairman in the state, Mr Yekin Kareem, made this call while speaking to journalists on Thursday in Ilorin.

“If the N-Power programme is meant to help the youth, that should be done properly instead of creating more problems for it.

“The issue of having Abuja as the sole centre for running the totality of the programme is not a good idea.

“The State Governments should be given a specific number of youths to employ and be given the mandate of supervision too,” he said.

According to Kareem, the N-Power programme should be properly funded for it to meet its expectations.

“Why would you not pay those you employ and they have been working for a period as long as five months; it is uncalled for.

“Some of them have left their petty jobs for the programme, then they are not being paid and they can’t go back; at the end, the unemployment you don’t want to create sets in,” he said.

He explained that the decentralisation of the programme will ensure registration, coordination and supervision of the participants better than it is being done.

According to him, the programme has not fulfilled its expectation, rather it has worsened the situation of the unemployed youth.

He pointed out that the structure of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) should serve as a model for the initiators of the N-Power programme in terms of management.

“You cannot see corps members complaining about non-payment of stipends like this because they have a funding scheme, hence this can also be replicated in the N-Power programme,” he said.

The NLC chairman, however, urged the Federal Government to set up a committee to fine tune the scheme for better results in the states handling the programme.

(NAN)