It was jubilation among the NPOWER beneficiaries across the country as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Wednesday night directed the commencement of the payment of the backlog of stipends owed them.
The payment commencement followed a painstaking verification exercise initiated and concluded by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Announcing the release of funds Wednesday night, Nigeria’s Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty, Dr Betta Edu, said it was indeed a renewed hope for the Nigerian youths for the Christmas and New Year festivities. This was contained in a statement signed by Rasheed Olanrewaju Zubair, Special Adviser on Media and Publicity to Honourable Minister, FMHAPA.
The Minister pointed out that President Tinubu’s interest in Nigerian youths was evidenced by the numerous policies and programmes of his administration largely tailored toward providing opportunities for them.
“I stayed awake with the NPOWER team till 3 am at the office to ensure NPOWER beneficiaries get paid before Christmas in line with the directive of the President.
“Now, I can confirm to you the payment of NPower beneficiaries has commenced and the evidence is in their bank accounts”, the Minister said.
She wishes the beneficiaries who have been waiting this long due to the painstaking process of the verification exercise, a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year with their loved ones.
A beneficiary, Aminu Muhammed from Kano said in a message to the Minister” Thank you Mr President and the Honourable Minister for fulfilling your promise, I just received my alert.
The same confirmation of alert receipt came from Sanni Baba in Bauchi, Uche Nnaji from Enugu, Kayode Babatunde in Ibadan and Kolo Nda from Niger state Among about 400,000 beneficiaries who successfully went through the verification process and got paid.
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