TheCable

The federal government has inaugurated the third batch of the N-Power exercise on the National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS).

Sadiya Umar Farouq, minister of humanitarian affairs, disaster management and social development, chaired the inauguration in Abuja, on Thursday.

NASIMS is the central management platform for the administration and coordination of national social investment programmes (NSIP) under the ministry.

Farouq said the development is in continuation of the ongoing strategy by the President Muhammadu Buhari-led government to lift 100 million people out of poverty in ten years.

She said the batches ‘A’ and ‘B’ had already been implemented, adding that 500,000 beneficiaries will benefit in the first stream of the ongoing process for batch ‘C’, while the same number of Nigerians will benefit in the second stream.

“I am delighted that we are gathered today for the launch of the Batch ‘C’ on the National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS),” she said.

“The N-Power cluster, which is a combination of many sub-cluster initiatives is aimed at providing opportunities in skills acquisition, competency building, and entrepreneurship training among the poor for human capital development.

“The N-Power, Government Enterprise Empowerment Programme, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, and Conditional Cash Transfer are undergoing series of strategic realignment and restructuring with the view to optimise their operations and maximise their impacts.

“Today, we have reached another milestone in the process of recruiting and onboarding of the Batch C N-Power beneficiaries, beginning with 500,000 beneficiaries.”

Farouq said the new batch will drive skills acquisition for beneficiaries, with the goal to ensure that they are economically active and possess the right vocational skillset to attract gainful employment when they graduate.

She said the beneficiaries will be paid N30,000 each as monthly stipend, adding that the scheme will increase national employment indices and ensure the productive engagement of millions of youths.

“It would relate and stimulate the economy, since the beneficiaries will be paid a stipend of N30,000 per month, thus improving their disposable income levels as well as positioning them as better economic agents,” she said.

“To ensure transparency, institutional memory and dynamic impact assessment of the N-Power cluster, it will now be administered through the NASIMS, designed to optimise and complement the structural reforms of NSIP and other activities of the ministry.

“As we launch the N-Power Batch C today, all N-Power Batch C applicants are required to log into the N-Power self service portal on www.nasims.gov.ng

“Furthermore, a dedicated support helpline has been provided to aid applicants through the process above. For complaints and enquiries, applicants are advised to call +234(0)1888501 1 or email [email protected].”

In his remarks, David Ibhawoh, the ICT consultant on NASIMS, said the ministry has invested so much on the portal that it would not experience crash or challenges.

According to him, those that applied for the N-Power batch ‘C’ programme before the closing date are the only eligible candidates that can access the portal.

“They can use the email address they applied for the programme to gain access to the portal — all their information are there in the portal. If you did not apply, you can’t access the portal. It will not recognise you,” he said.

“The portal has a computer-based test, which an applicant is expected to take and then and see his or her scores without any delay.

“There are emails and chat services in the portal to interact with the ministry. It is the first step of information sharing.”

TheCable had reported that more than one million Nigerians applied for the N-Power batch ‘C’ programme in less than 48 hours after registration commenced.