Osinbajo: 2.3m Nigerians Scramble for 300,000 N-Power Jobs
Omololu Ogunmade in Abuja
As many as 2.3 million young Nigerians have applied for proposed federal government's 300,000 N-Power jobs under its Social Investment Programme (SIP), Acting President Yemi Osinbajo disclosed in Abuja
yesterday. The acting president made the disclosure when he visited one of the training centres to distribute tablets to those already engaged under the scheme in the nation's capital. According to him, whereas 500,000 jobs are the entire target
for the N-power scheme of which he said 200,000 had already been engaged, the government might be forced to increase the target if it had the resources to do so. However, he insisted that the target remained 500,000 for now. Observing that the government would be unable to do everything
needed to be done, Osinbajo who said he was impressed by what he saw, added that the programme was more than just providing jobs for young ones but also includes skill learning. He said prompt payment of monthly earnings was being made to beneficiaries of the
scheme except those whose bank verification numbers (BVN) were at variance with the information provided. "You will recall that the target was 500,000 but depending on our resources, we can always do more but the target for now is 500,000.
But, what I want to say to the young people working on this is that, if we take the opportunity for instance; if you look at the tablet given to them, the tablet contains so much information, so much learning materials that Continued on page 8
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UNHCR:150,000 Nigerian Refugees at Risk, Calls on Cameroon to Halt Repatriation Michael Olugbode in Maiduguri The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has called on Nigerian and Cameroonian governments
to suspend the “ill-timed” repatriation of Nigerian refugees numbering about 150,000 at camps in Northern Cameroon. UNHCR warned that the execution of this plan spell doom
for about 26 million displaced persons on the Africa continent. The Cameroonian government after signing a tripartite agreement with Nigeria in March, 2017 had repatriated
about 15,000 Nigerian refugees who fled their homelands at the peak of the ongoing Boko Haram crisis. “The lives of this repatriated Nigerians are at risk as they
are presently accommodated at IDP camps in Banki and Gwoza towns in Borno State which are not totally free from Boko Haram attacks,” remarked UNHCR.
Speaking yesterday during a meeting to discuss the impending dangers the forced return of Nigerian refugees portends Continued on page 8
Soyinka: Nigeria’s Unity Negotiable Atiku: Blackmail Can't Stall Restructuring Ambode: With 1999 Constitution, Nigeria can’t function effectively
Emmanuel Addeh in Yenagoa, Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Gboyega Akinsanmi in Lagos Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka yesterday in Kaiama, Bayelsa State openly disagreed with the position of the federal government that the unity of Nigeria was non-negotiable, insisting that what was nonnegotiable was the right of the people to self-determination and to freely decide their future. On the same day, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar remarked that no amount of effort aimed at suppressing the agitation for restructuring of the federation would succeed. Just about two weeks ago, Acting President, Yemi Osinbajo reiterated the position of the Buhari administration, declaring that Nigeria remaining as one nation was a done deal, but speaking during the interactive session in Kaiama tagged “A Day with Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka” with students of the Ijaw National Academy, the literary icon said it was not only hypocritical, but dictatorial for the federal Continued on page 8
literary titans and the governor...
L-R: Prof. Ebiegberi Alagoa, Dr. Gabriel Okara, Nobel Laureate, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Bayelsa State Governor, Seriake Dickson and Prof. John Pepper Clark, interacting with students of the Ijaw National Academy at Kaiama in Kolokuma/Opokuma Local Government Area of the State...recently Lucky Francis