About 75,600 beneficiaries under batch A and B of the NPower scheme will be financially empowered by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to establish their various businesses.
The Federal Government is in collaboration with the CBN to provide loans to the beneficiaries at the end of their NPower Exit (NEXIT) training which is expected to be held across various states in the country from 14th-18th March 2022.
The NEXIT training is an exited strategy for the transition of Npower beneficiaries at the end of their duration in the Npower programme. NEXIT (N-EXIT) Loan was initiated by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development in collaboration with the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide soft Loan amounts between N250,000 to N3million to enable the exited beneficiaries to proceed in a business enterprise after a compulsory NEXIT Loan Training at the end of the Npower programme.
Among other things, the NEXIT programme is expected to create a platform for Nigerian owned financial services companies to grow whilst empowering and creating job opportunities for Nigerian youths.
Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, who spoke at the inauguration of the NEXIT-CBN Agri-Business, Small and Medium Enterprises Scheme (AGSMEIS) in Abuja, noted that the 75, 600 beneficiaries of the financial empowerment are the first batch of the N-Power, out of 467,183 who applied for the training.
Farouq, who was represented by the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, Mr Bashir Alkali, stated that the N-Power programme is a critical part of the National Social Investment Programmes domiciled in the ministry, adding that the initiative was designed to achieve the national objectives of poverty reduction and job creation in the country.
“The N-Power programme is keys to helping young Nigerians acquire and develop life-long skills that ensure they become solution providers and entrepreneurs in their communities.
“Recently, more segments have been embedded into the N-Power programme such as the N-Skills, which is for youth with no formal education who will be trained in different vocational skills and trades. The Mobile Money Agents, which are for financial inclusion of this youth segment is another great feat in the programme”, the minister noted.
Investors King had earlier reported that the ministry collaborated with Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDI) for the conduct of the NEXIT Loan Training across States of the Federation.
The N-Power scheme, one of the Social Investment Programmes (SIP) of the Muhammadu Buhari administration involves the temporary recruitment of unemployed graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 in various sectors including education, agric, among others.