Fed Govt hires 200,000 graduates

Two hundred thousand graduates have been hired by the Federal Government as part of the N-Power Volunteer Corps which will ultimately engage 500,000 graduates.

Those engaged will resume on December 1 in the states where they will be deployed.

The new employees are distributed as follows: 150,000 as teachers, 30,000 to work in the agriculture sector and 20,000 in healthcare delivery. They will cover three specific programme assignments, according to the Presidency.

According to Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity Laolu Akande, they were employed two weeks ago and their names have been sent to states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), where they will be deployed to their specific assignments.

The names will be published this week on the N-Power internet portal. They are expected to start receiving SMS messages informing them of their selection as from today.

Akande said: “State governments and the FCT are also encouraged to post the names of the successful first batch applicants in their local government areas while there would be further public announcements.

“Between now and the end of the month, the states and the FCT would be engaged in deploying the graduates who would formally start working and earning their stipends on December 1, 2016.”

According to him, the N-Power Volunteer Corps is an expression of President Muhammadu Buhari’s commitment to invest in the human capital development of Nigerian citizens, particularly the young people.

The N-Power programmme, Akande said, is also an innovative means to enhance ailing public services in the area of basic education and primary healthcare.

“Also in the agric sector, it is aimed at achieving self-sufficiency by giving our farmers relevant advisory services.”

Akande said the Federal Government was encouraging the successful applicants to take the opportunity serious by learning the skills that will brighten their future.

He added: “They are also implored to serve their communities with commitment and dedication.

“For those who have not been selected at this time, there is a waiting list based on the total number of applicants, and subsequent batches will absorb more of the qualified applicants.

“All together, the N-Power will engage and train 500,000 young unemployed graduates. It is a paid volunteering programme of a two-year duration that engages graduates in their immediate communities, where they will assist in improving the inadequacies in the education, health, and agriculture sectors.

“The 500,000 graduates under the N-Power Corps programme will be trained in skills that will enable them exit after two years to economically viable jobs and business opportunities.

“As part of the programme, the participnts would own tablets that will contain information necessary for their specific engagements, as well as information for their continuous training and developments.

“Participants will be provided teaching, instructional, and advisory solutions in four main focus areas, and will be paid a monthly stipend of N30,000 during the programme.

“The four main focus areas are in basic education, agriculture extension services, public health and community education (civic and adult education).”

Besides the N-Power programme for undergraduates, Akande said there are other schemes for non-graduates, including N-Power Knowledge, which would select 25,000 young Nigerians and N-Power Build 75,000, all of whom shall be trained and paid during the duration of the scheme.

Source: The nation