N-Power is a scheme set up by the President of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari, on 8 June 2016, to address the issues of youth unemployment and help increase social development.
It was created as a component of the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) to provide a structure for large-scale and relevant work skills acquisition and development, ensuring that each participant learns and practices essential employability or entrepreneurial skills.
Applicants are selected and placed in several institutions known as Primary Places of Assignment (PPA). These can be verified by checking the N-Power Deployment Status. Beneficiaries receive monthly stipends from the scheme.
History
- Establishment Date: 8 June 2016
- Target Group: Unemployed graduates and non-graduates between the ages of 18 and 35
- Programme Duration: Paid programme lasting two years, beneficiaries serve in their states of residence
Financial Outlay
On 13 July 2019, the Federal Government of Nigeria announced it had spent ₦279 billion paying beneficiaries from December 2016 to June 2019.
Programme Categories
The scheme has six primary categories:
- N-Teach (graduates only)
- N-Health (graduates only)
- N-Agro
- N-Build
- N-Creative
- N-Tech
In 2021, a new category was introduced:
- N-Knowledge: Targeted at Nigerian youths for computer hardware training and digital skills development
N-Power has trained over 1,500 youths and provided tools such as laptops to beneficiaries.
Batch A
- Enrollment Start: 12 June 2016
- Portal Closure (Extended): 31 August 2016
- Applications Received: 350,000
Selected Beneficiaries: 200,000
- 150,000 in N-Teach
- 30,000 in N-Agro
- 20,000 in N-Health
Deployment Date: 1 December 2016
- Disengagement Date: 30 June 2020
- Actual Duration: 43 months (instead of 24)
Batch B
- Enrollment Start: 13 June 2017
- Portal Closure: 27 July 2017
- Applications Received: 2,543,079
- Passed BVN Stage: 2,258,266
- Assessment Participants: 1,746,454
- Selected Beneficiaries: 300,000
- Physical Verification: 4–14 December 2017
- Deployment Date: 1 August 2018
- Disengagement Date: 31 July 2020
After disengagement of Batches A and B, the Federal Government promised an entrepreneurship exit programme.
Batch C
- Enrollment Start: 26 June 2020
- Applications in 48 Hours: 1 million+
- Applications in One Week: 3 million
- Programme Duration: 12 months
- Recruitment Streams: Two, with 500,000 beneficiaries per stream
- Stream 1 Deployment: 4 September 2020