N-Power begins verification of 300,000 applicants December 4

Federal Government’s N-Power Scheme will commence the physical verification of no fewer than 300, 000 applicants in the 774 local councils of the country from December 4 to 14, 2017. Senior Special Assistant to President Muhammadu Buhari on Jobs Creation and Youth Employment, Afolabi Imoukwuede, who confirmed this in Asaba, Delta State yesterday, disclosed that the verification would be carried out with N-power stakeholders in the 36 states. He added that the National Orientation Agency, N-power state teams and National Assembly would act as monitors and observers during the exercise. Imoukhuede explained that pre-selection was not the same as recruitment and as such those who fell short of the verification criteria due to faulty declarations in their application forms could still be disqualified. He noted that after the compilation of successfully verified candidates, the final selection would be done followed by the deployment of the volunteers in the Agriculture, Teaching and Health categories across the country. He said out of 2.54 million applicants, 2.25 million had their Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) validated prior to the assessment test phase, while only 1.75 million responded to invitation for tests. Details of state-by-state application figures showed that the Northwest states of Jigawa had 33, 039 applicants, Kaduna (113, 960); Kano (97, 748); Katsina (40, 742); Kebbi (30, 975); Sokoto (22, 501) and Zamfara (32, 186) applicants. The Northeast states of Adamawa had 50, 552 applications, Bauchi (51, 920); Borno (55, 264); Gombe (27, 980); Taraba (36, 987) and Yobe (32, 201). In the North Central, FCT led with 120, 198 applications followed by Benue (89, 734); Kwara (77, 338); Niger (73, 236); Nasarawa (72, 732); Plateau (68, 955) and Kogi (61, 789).

Enugu State led the applications in the Southeast with 81, 891 followed by Anambra (61, 075), Imo (60, 283); Abia (54, 216) and Ebonyi (39, 030). In the Southwest, Lagos had 174, 994 applications; Oyo (133, 281); Osun (87, 281); Ekiti (37, 594); Ogun (74, 940) and Ondo (69, 224). The highest applications from the South-South came from Rivers with 145, 773 followed by Delta with 106, 509 while Edo had 63, 507. Others are Akwa Ibom (56, 143); Bayelsa (23, 659) and Cross River (49, 596). Meanwhile, the Majority Leader of the Delta State House of Assembly, Tim Owhefere has charged the Nigeria Association of Women Journalists (NAWOJ) to sustain the level of peace and harmonious relationship in the state. He urged them to use their position to protect the state from conflicts, confusion, as well as nocturnal and cult-related activities, adding: “It is the journalists that keep the state, country and the people at peace. They can also cause confusion in the state, if they so wish. But that is not the case, as the achievements of the state chairman NAWOJ, Pat. Gbemudu has shown. Peter Emaziyi, who represented Owhefere, said this at the 2017 Press Week of the state chapter of NAWOJ held in Asaba.


(Guardian)