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The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Sadiya Farouq has announced the commencement of the selection process for applicants who indicated interest to be employed under the N-Power Batch C.
She said over five million applications where received between when the online application process started June 26, 2020 and closed at midnight on August 8th, 2020.
Farouq blamed the delay in kicking off the N-Power Batch C process until now on the COVID-19 pandemic.
N-Power Batch C targeting 500,000 beneficiaries
The N-Power Batch C is targeting about 500,000 beneficiaries as part of the process to achieve government’s plan to uplift over 10 million Nigerians from poverty.
“We have reached another milestone in the process of recruiting and onboarding of the Batch C N-Power beneficiaries beginning with 500,000 beneficiaries. The N-Power Batch C as launched today is 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, all aligned to the national policy drive of lifting 100 million people out of abject poverty in 10 years,” said the minister.
According to her, the ministry launched a portal, National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS) for ease of coordination, deployment and management – as part of measures adopted to make the selection process seamless and transparent.
All applicants have been migrated onto the NASIMS platform and would be required to undergo a mandatory online test as part of the selection process, the minister said.
Selection process based on merit and equitable representation
According to her, “selection process for the N-Power program is predicated on merit and equitable representation across all strata of the country. consequently, the processes and criteria for selection will ensure equitable regional as well as gender representation. Furthermore, special considerations for the inclusion of persons living with disabilities have been taken into account by the ministry.”
The Batch C programme will run for 12 months and each beneficiary will be paid a monthly stipend of N30,000.
“Based on the implementation experiences since 2016, and the impact of the Covid-19, these Social Intervention Programmes are undergoing a series of strategic realignment and restructuring with the view to optimise their operations, maximise their impacts and drive efficient coordination and management aimed to deliver even more socio-economic benefits to the poor and vulnerable,” said Farouq while explaining the need for the portal.
Adding: “By commencing the administration of the N-Power Batch C through the National Social Investment & Information Management System (NASIMS), beneficiaries will be able to receive their stipends in a timely and efficient manner, have access to a wide range of industry-specific contents for optimised learning experience leveraging the enterprise learning management module of the NASIMS.”
