It is the desire of any nation to increase skill and knowledge especially among the youths. This is a means of encouraging economic growth and social development of any great country.
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Despite high level of unemployment in Nigeria now, it is important that efforts be put into harnessing Nigeria’s youth demography through appropriate skill development efforts and this provides opportunity for achieving productivity within the nation. Large scale skill development is the primary main policy thrust of the N-Power Programme.
Understanding How N-Power Works
N-power is a youth empowerment system that is sponsored by the Federal Government of Nigeria under the President Muhammadu Buhari Administration. The scheme took off in 2016. When you search online, you come across NPower, which is a foreign empowerment program. The Nigeria based empowerment scheme is known as N-Power.
N-Power addresses the challenges of youth unemployment by providing a structure for large scale, relevant work skills acquisition and development, while linking its core and outcomes to enable fixing inadequate public services and stimulating the larger economy.
It is the means of providing a platform where most Nigerians can access skills acquisition and development. N-Power beneficiaries are Nigerian citizens between the between ages of 18 and 35 at the time they submit their applications. There are sub-programs under N-Power to ensure that every participant is able to learn and practice most of the skills necessary to find or create jobs.
The N-Power programs are broadly categorized into two broad categories such as N-Power Graduate Categories and N-Power Non-Graduate Categories.
The N-Power Graduate Categories
This category is also known as N-Power Volunteer Corps and is a post-tertiary engagement initiative for Nigerians within the age of 18 and 35. This is a paid volunteering program of two-year duration. The graduates involved will undertake the primary tasks in identified public services within their proximate communities.
All N-Power volunteers are given or have access to computing devices that contains information necessary for their specific engagement, as well as the information their continuous training and development in Nigeria. N-Power volunteers provide teaching, instructional and advisory solutions in four key areas which include the following:
N-Power Agro
This area has volunteers that provide advisory services to farmers across Nigeria. They disseminate the knowledge and skills that has been aggregated by Federal Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in the area of extension services.
N-Power Health
This area is used by N-Power health volunteers to improve and promote preventive healthcare in their communities to vulnerable members of the society including pregnant women, children, families, and individuals.
N-Power Teach
Volunteers in this area are helping to improve basic education delivery in Nigeria. They are deployed as teacher assistants in primary schools around Nigeria.
N-Power Tax
The volunteers under this category are selected to work as Community Tax Liaison Officers in their respective states of residence with the state’s tax authorities. These officers have the responsibility that includes answering online inquiries, customer management, creating awareness of tax compliance, among other things.
Vice President Yemi osinbajo with N-Power officers in AbujaN-Power Non Graduate Categories
The N-Power Non Graduate Categories are designed to train and empower non graduates with skills that they can use for making themselves better and for promoting the economy at large. It offers training and certification programme for all successful candidates. The N-Power Non Graduate Category provides training and certifications in two key areas and these include the following:
N-Power Knowledge
This program is the Federal Government primary step toward diversifying to a knowledge economy. The program is meant to work alongside the planned eight innovation hubs across the country to provide incubation and acceleration of the technology and creative industries in Nigeria.
This program is known as ‘Training to Jobs’ initiative. It essentially ensures that participants are able to get engaged in the marketplace in an outsourcing capacity as freelancers, employees, and as entrepreneurs.
N-Power Build
This is an accelerated training and certification skills job program for engaging and training 75,000 young unemployed Nigerians and making them skillful enough to develop new crop of skilled and highly competent workforce of technicians, artisans and service professionals.
That is it about how the N-Power scheme is structured. However, you will like to know more about registration and how to qualify for the N-Power scheme. Read on for the other details below.
N-Power Registration Requirements
In order to apply for N-Power, you must meet certain minimum requirements. To apply, the following scenarios should apply to you. They are based on:
- Your expression of a genuine interest in whichever area you decide
- You must pass the relevant tests
- You must be willing to push yourself beyond your comfort zone
- You must have ability to show a flair to develop all the skills you need to be the best you can be.
Other Criteria You Must Meet
- Your age is between 18-35 years
- You must be unemployed graduate or undergraduate
- You must possess problem-solving skills
- You must be analytical
- You must be able to undertake self-tutorship
- You must have basic illustration skills for animation and graphics arts
To register, you must also provide the following information on the N-Power website- BVN, CV, NYSC certificate and number, passport photos, ND and NCE degree certificates and the e-mail address where you can be contacted.; it must be up-to-date email that you have access to at all times.
N-Power Latest Developments in 2024
Vice President Yemi osinbajo speaks on the accomplishments of N-Power from 2016 to 2018By May 2018, the N-Power scheme has recruited 500,000 graduates on its portal and has been in full operation in the 36 states of Nigeria. However, not all of those graduates have received the benefits. Only 200,000 did. All the sections such as N-Teach for education, N-Health for health, N-Agro for agriculture, N-Build for building and construction should have been in full swing and beneficiaries should have been paid a monthly stipend of N30,000 during their period of engagement.
In the month of August 2018, 300,000 new beneficiaries were called by the Buhari administration to be deployed and formally engaged. At the end of August 2018 a total of 500,000 beneficiaries are expected to have surfaced.
All in second batch will be engaged from August 1, 2018 to July 31, 2020. In order for all of the candidates to qualify for their first monthly stipend, they must upload on their N-Power portal page their stamped and signed confirmation of resumptions.
For two years, 2016 to 2018, the Federal Government has been empowering Nigerians and it aims to empower up to 10 million Nigerians by 2023. This resolve is the determination of the present President Muhammadu Buhari to help Nigerians who are suffering and have no jobs.
Until now, the N-Power scheme has proved to be the largest tertiary employment program in all of Africa. Of course, the Nigerian Government realizes that capital development should be a priority of public policy of governments across Africa. This is a means of tackling multidimensional poverty and improve long-term development on the continent.
