Not every Nigerian is aware of N-Power Volunteer Corps, one of the programmes under the President Mohammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress (APC) federal government's Social Investment Programmes (SIPs).
N-Power basically target unemployed graduates who are recruited and sent to work as assistants in primary and junior secondary schools, primary heath centres and as agric extension workers in local communities. There are however, other non-graduate categories such N-Build, N-Tech and N-Creative.
Looking back today, one can safely conclude that the programme which kicked off with the first of batch of 200,000 beneficiaries in December 2016 and another batch of 300,000 beneficiaries recently 'onboarded' in August 2018 has no doubt recorded a huge success; albeit within the ambit of its stated objective - to recruit 500,000 volunteers and equip them with entrepreneurial skills and on-the-job-experience that will make them independent after two years in the scheme. Successful beneficiaries receives a monthly stipend of N30,000 (US$83) for the period of two years; so long as they discharge their assigned duties at their Places of Primary Assignment.
Simply put: The idea is that beneficiaries should within the two years, be able to save enough money to start their own businesses and grow it into a successful venture that can expand and employ others. Good as this plan sound, any Nigerian who live in Nigeria will agree that to a large extent, the idea can best pass for a mere wishful thinking or at least not practicable. Whereas the short term goal of engaging 500,000 Nigerian youths have been achieved, can the same be said of the long term goal of enabling them to become independent?
Initially, the first batch of beneficiaries saw no ambiguity in the plan. Majority, if not all of them, have roamed the streets aimlessly in search of very little job opportunities. No thanks to successive administrations that have failed in creating job opportunities or implementing economic policies that can help young Nigerians to thrive as entrepreneurs.
For many, the promised N30,000 would be a wonderful lifeline extended to them since they served their fatherland - the fatherland that apparently hold no promise for them in return. More importantly, they were overwhelmed to see a selection process that is fair, open, and transparent to the core, with no requirement of reference letter from a National Assembly member or a top government official as was largely the case during the past years of PDP reign.
But barely one year on, the reality downed on them. The stipend they had hoped for is coming but can hardly fix their monthly expenses. Some left home and moved to the location of their PPA while those who chose to go from home spend a good percentage of their stipend on transport. They now know what it takes to feed and and look well-dressed to work. Some family members and relatives who only know that the beneficiaries are now working for federal government are equally making demands from them.
Looking at the above scenario, one can see how difficult it is for these beneficiaries, some of them married with kids, to survive on the stipend and still perform the 'miracle' of saving a good percentage to be able to start their own business as the government had envisioned. This perhaps, is one of the reasons why the revered American billionaire businessman, Bill Gates, during a visit to Nigeria few months ago criticized Nigerian government's economic policies for lacking human face. Gates may not be be entirely correct. But there are enough evidence to support his claim.
Gripped by fear of uncertainty of their future as time for their exit from the programme draws closer, the volunteers suddenly woke up to the reality and began agitation for permanency in the federal civil service. They quickly created social media groups, notably on Facebook, with some housing as much as 200,000 members to mobilize and start a peaceful and persuasive campaign for absorption into civil service at the end of their two years into scheme.
Expectedly, the move had a magic bullet effect on the beneficiaries across every sections of the country. For the first time, all the Ahmeds, Adewales, Chukwumas, Nsikaks, Oghenetegas, irrespective of their tribe, religion, or political leaning, agree and resolve to collectively pursue a common cause -demanding for absorption into civil service since there is obviously nothing to fall back on when disengaged. Few have even suggested an alternative - an exit package, which should be a enough to start a business if permanency prove too hard to come by.
Their demand is premised on the fact that having worked diligently, acquiring relevant skills and on-the-job experience in the process during the last twenty-one months in the scheme, it would be the greatest disservice to the nation and its youths if they are thrown back to the streets to continue their search for nonexistent jobs.
As the campaign gather momentum, the government hit back, reminding them of a signed agreement which stipulated their period of stay in the scheme. The government position, as represented by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment and top N-Power official, Afolabi Imoukhuede, is that it is impossible and impracticable for the federal government to absorb 200,000 people into civil service. He further argued that beneficiaries are expected to have saved a portion of the stipend so as to set up their own business when they exit the scheme in November this year. He however hinted on government plan to make loan available for volunteers who may wish to access such loan.
But the beneficiaries' insistence that it is unthinkable for anyone to expect them to save from a meagre monthly stipend recently gained credibility when President Buhari, in a widely reported statement in the media said that the fourty-five million naira (N45m) APC presidential nomination form price is too high and that he could not afford it. If this claim by the president is not just one of hypocritical and self-serving rhetoric common among Nigerian politicians, it then goes to explain why the demand by the 2016 N-Power volunteers should be given urgent attention and favourable response.
This is so because if President Buhari, who earns hundreds of millions of naira from salaries and allowances annually have the courage to complain that N45m is too high for him to pay for his re-election bid after nearly four years in office as president of Nigeria, how then can one expect N-Power volunteer to save from meagre monthly stipend of N30,000 and start his own business in a country where harsh business climate and economic policies have forced even prior thriving firms to go out of business?
If four years is not enough for our dear president to save N45m to purchase his re-election nomination form, why should anyone think that a monthly stipend (not salary) earner for just two years must save to start a business with a potential to survive in Nigeria? Can we say that admitting that the price of the nomination form is too high for him is proof that President Buhari has failed as president? On the other, can we conclude that not being able to save a business capital from a meagre monthly stipend is a proof that these beneficiaries are simply lazy and extravagant?
Considering the fact of the economic recession which the country is still recovering from, and the outrageous price of the APC nomination form, it will be wrong to conclude that the President has failed as an individual and citizen. In the same vein, N-Power volunteers and Nigerian youths are not lazy equally. No Nigerian can make any reasonable savings from N30,000 monthly even if it is received free of charge as a social security benefit for no work done.
Our leaders generally must guide against giving the impression that anything that stands to benefit the sons and daughters of poor and ordinary Nigerians must be killed with calculated cynicism or blunt refusal by tagging it impossible or impracticable. President Buhari, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, Ministers, National Assembly members, governors and state assembly members - all have non of their children or close relation in N-Power as a volunteer.
Retaining the first batch of N-Power volunteers in federal civil service may well be a good step towards fulfilling the 3million-jobs-annually campaign promise of President Buhari in 2014 as well as reducing the steadily increasing rate of unemployment and job loss in Nigeria.
N-Power is indeed, one of the laudable achievements of this administration but this seeming achievement will be a colossal failure if nothing is done to make it sustainable - in this case, retaining the volunteers in the mainstream civil service or a reasonable exit package only can guarantee its sustainability. I have no doubt that in all, over 500,000 Nigeria graduates and school leavers were for once made to be proud of the country of their birth. In the end, President Mohammadu Buhari will forever be remembered as the one who made this possible.
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