The disengaged NPower beneficiaries have called on the National Assembly to summon the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management And Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk over her failure to pay them their remunerated packages and allowances. 

The former NPower workers said this was necessary after their letters and other actions instituted to ensure the payment of the benefits, failed to yield any positive results. 

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

According to the disengaged workers, Farouk is just engaging in media propaganda as they claim they have not received the allowances she promised them via press statements. 

SaharaReporters had published late October that the disgruntled NPower workers, who were disengaged issued a 15-day ultimatum to the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouk, to address the pressing matters concerning them.

They threatened to take their protest to her office in Abuja if she failed to respond before the deadline given in the ultimatum.

Part of the statement released reads, “Disengaged Npower beneficiaries to embark on another nationwide protest over Minister Sadiya’s failure to fulfil her numerous promises and continuous negligence of 500,000 exited beneficiaries.” 

The affected workers issued a statement signed by the National N-Power President, Kabiru Aliyu Pelemi, which was made available to SaharaReporters on Thursday. 

It was titled, ‘Need for Nationals Assembly to Summon Hon. Sadiya Umar Farouk, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.’

The statement read, “After several letters to the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management And Social Development, I chose to write this article to call the attention of NASS to summon Honourable Sadiya Umar Farouk for questioning and answer for not handling N-Power programme in the right way.

“The Honorable Minister, in her several interviews and her social media handles categorically stated that N-Power volunteers will be given exit package, especially before the end of the year 2021.

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“The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs has been using different tactics and media propaganda all this while without fulfilling the exit package through her purported Nexit Portal.

“Up till now, a reasonable number (of beneficiaries) from Batches A and B has yet to be paid their backlog till date.

“And what amazed me is that she didn’t use Batches A and B volunteers to learn her lesson to strategise for Batch C.

“Batch C stream 1 N-Power volunteers have been posted to their Places of Primary Assignment (PPA) without considering their locations.

“Some of them have to spend more than four hundred naira for transport fare a day before getting to their PPA.

“These Batch C stream 1 N-Power volunteers have only been paid September stipend and yet to receive October, November and December stipend.

“Does she want them to use a miracle to go to their PPA without receiving their stipend?

“Some of these volunteers quit where they were managing their life to join N-Power in order to make life easy for them, most especially in this economic situation we found ourselves in Nigeria.

“Most of N-Power Batch C stream 1 are presently confused, either to resume to Npower job or go back to where they were working before.

“The primary aim and objectives of the N-Power programme (Batches A and B) were not achieved as 95% of the beneficiaries are now back to the streets and jobless and the same mistake is about to happen to batch C again.

“An official statement on the issue surrounding the exit package for Batches A and B and payment of batch C should be made.

“As graduates, matured and experienced citizens of Nigeria, we are tired of the way she handles N-Power programme and it’s obvious that she doesn’t have regards for Nigeria youths.

“We hope and believe that the needful will be done before the 2nd week of January.”