The Federal Government says it will disengage about 500,000 beneficiaries of the N-Power scheme as they have outlived the stipulated time set for the first and second batch to run.

According to the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development Sadia Umar Farouq, the beneficiaries were supposed to spend 24 months on the programme but Batch A beneficiaries have spent over 40 months.

The N-Power programme has enrolled 500,000 beneficiaries thus far – 200,000 from Batch A which started in September 2016 and 300,000 from Batch B which kicked off in August 2018.

“We have commenced the transitioning of beneficiaries from Batches A & B into government entrepreneurship schemes and engaging private sector bodies to absorb some of the beneficiaries after the completion of psychometric assessment to determine competency and placement into various opportunities.

“The Federal government is committed to the continuation and expansion and as such will now begin enrolment and onboarding of a new Batch of beneficiaries.

“In view of these, the Ministry has announced that Batch A will exit June 30, 2020 and Batch B will exit the programme on July 31, 2020.”

The Ministry says it hopes to begin the enrolment for a new batch of N-Power beneficiaries effective July 26, 2020.