Abuja
No fewer than 5,781 N-power beneficiaries have been relieved of their duties because they indulged in truancy.
Mr Afolabi Imoukheude, the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to the President Buhari on Job Creation and Youth Employment, disclosed this in Abuja while addressing the beneficiaries on Saturday.
He said government took the decision because complaints received from the places of primary assignment of the affected beneficiaries, over truancy and lackadaisical attitude, were getting overwhelming.
The presidential aide added that even when letters were written to the beneficiaries converned to explain themselves, most of them did not comply.
Imoukheude said : “When we get report of people who play truancy, we usually place you on payment hold. In N-power, you learn work and earn.
“If you do not do the right thing and you are paid, you are stealing the money. Note that the funds are not mine but that of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“We have been receiving enormous complaints that a lot of you no longer go to work.
“The head teacher in your Primary Place of Assignment (PPA) is your Buhari and has the responsibility to teach, monitor and educate you.
“I have some good news for most of you, 5,781 of you have been forcefully exited out of the programme, because of disciplinary issues.
‘Perhaps, you will begin to believe that states have authority over you.
” We also received report of those who absconded and you know the terms and conditions attached to be an N-power beneficiary.”
Imoukheude, who noted that there had been so many insinuations around ghost workers in N-power, declared that there was no ghost workers in N-power.
This, he said, was because physical verification had been conducted and confirmation made on those who came into the programme to ensure the programme is devoid of such corrupt tendency.
“What happens to those who do not receive alert? It is because of validation and we try to contact you via phone number, email address, to go regularise yourself with your bank and update your details,”he told the beneficiaries.
