Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development

By Collins Yakubu-Hammer

Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, on Thursday in Abuja inaugurated the N-Power  Batch ‘C’ on the National Social Investment Management Systems (NASIMS).

Farouq at the inauguration at news conference said it was in continuation of the ongoing strategy by the President Buhari-led government to further position the youths for greater social responsibilities and inclusion.

She said the N-Power was a cluster under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) launched in 2016 as an intervention to enhance government efforts on engaging Youths for skill and employability.

The minister noted that the Batches ‘A’ and ‘B’ had already been implemented.

“I am delighted that we are gathered today for the launch of the Batch ‘C’ on the National Social Investment Management Systems (NASIMS).

“The N-Power cluster which is a combination of many sub-cluster initiatives aimed at providing opportunities in skills acquisition, competencies building, and entrepreneurship training among the poor for human capital development.

“The N-Power, Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and Conditional Cash Transfer are undergoing series of strategic realignment and restructuring with the view to optimise their operations and maximise their impacts.

“Today, we have reached another milestone in the process of recruiting and onboarding of the Batch C N-Power beneficiaries beginning with 500,000 beneficiaries,” Farouq said.

The minister explained that the N-Power Batch ‘C’ as inaugurated was structured to onboard one million new beneficiaries, beginning with an initial 500, 000 beneficiaries in the first stream, and a subsequent 500,000 in a second stream.

According to her, all are aligned to the national policy drive of lifting 100 million people out of abject poverty in ten years.

She furthermore maintained that the N-Power Batch ‘C’ would Strategically drive the acquisition of a bouquet of usable skills for each beneficiary with the goal to ensure they are economically more active and possess the right vocational skill set to attract gainful employment on graduation.

Farouq emphasised that it would also increase the propensities of local production, given the ability to domesticate and put into productive use, the skills acquired in the course of the programme.

She stressed that, it would ultimately increase national employment indices and ensure the productive engagement of millions of youths with the desire to improve cohesion and national security.

“It would relate and stimulate the economy, since the beneficiaries will be paid a stipend of N30,000 per month, thus improving their disposable income levels as well as positioning them as better economic agents.

“To ensure transparency, institutional memory and dynamic impact assessment of the N-Power cluster, it will now be administered through the NASIMS, designed to optimise and compliment the structural reforms of NSIP and other activities of the ministry.

“This will be done with the systemic use of ICT tools for coordination, administration, monitoring, and stakeholder management across the entire process and value chain of all NSIP under the purview of the ministry,” Farouq said.

She affirmed that, she was convinced that, the inauguration and the consequent commencement of the N-Power Batch ‘C’ was timely and a step in the right direct.

She added that, she was more optimistic and hopeful that the N-Power Batch C would exceedingly deliver on the immediate, medium and long term expectations; given the level of planning and collaboration invested.

“As we launch the N-Power Batch C today, all N-Power Batch C applicants are required to log into the N-Power Self Service portal on www.nasims.gov.ng

“Furthermore, a dedicated support helpline has been provided to aid applicants through the process above. For complaints and enquiries, applicants are advised to call +234(0)1888501 1 or email [email protected],” Farouq said.

Speaking, the ICT Consultant on NASIMS, Mr David Ibhawoh, said the ministry has invested so much on the portal that it would not experience crash or challenges.

Ibhawoh said the NASIMS portal is a channel that the ministry would use to disseminate information to the Batch ‘C’ applicants.

According to him, those that applied for the N-Power Batch ‘C’ Programme before the closing date with their emails are the only ones that can have access to the portal.

“They can use the email address they applied for the programme to gain access to the portal; all their information are there in the portal. If you did not apply, you can’t access the portal. It will not recognise you.

“The portal have a computer base test which an applicant is expected to take and then and see his or her scores without any delay.

“There are emails and chat services in the portal to interact with the Ministry. It is the first step of information sharing,” Ibhawoh said.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that those present at the inauguration include the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Alhaji Bashir Alkali, NSIP Focal Person for FCT, Mrs Chinwendu Amba and other directors in the ministry.