NPower Beneficiaries in Kwara States Received N13.3bn

The National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) has said N-power beneficiaries in Kwara State received a total sum of N13.3 billion.

The amount was paid to 15,246 beneficiaries from both batches A and B that exited the programme.

Hajia Bashirah Abdulrazaq, the Focal Person of the programme in the state, said batch A beneficiaries were paid N7.4 billion for the 42 months period they were engaged.

She said batch B beneficiaries who were engaged for about 24 months received a total sum of N5.7 billion.

“Non-graduates received the sum of N10,000 every month and were engaged for a period of 24 months with a total sum of over N24 million spent,” she added.

Abdulrazaq also said Kwara state government had created a replica of the empowerment programme, codenamed K-power, in order to support beneficiaries after exiting the N-power programme.

She said around 10,000 of N-power beneficiaries benefited from “trader moni’ programme in the state with over N1.3 billion disbursed to them.

She, however, said the people are not willing to repay the loan.

Said she: “Poor masses are not ready to repay the loan after collection because of the attitude of Nigerian to anything from the government thinking it is national cake. Also, those that disbursed the money do not have records of beneficiaries like phone numbers and addresses. Thus, making it difficult to track them for repayment.

“The programme is designed to provide soft loans to boost small scale businesses in the markets which Vice President Yemi Osinbajo flagged off sometime last year to support women with N10,000 as soft loans to
be paid back and then enjoy the next stage of N50,000.

“Unfortunately, many beneficiaries didn’t pay back or the channel for payment was not identified, therefore, beneficiaries could not fulfill their pledges. Though, the component is going through restructuring to
seeing it achieves its objectives,” she said.