The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Umar Farouq, claims no fewer than 109,823 beneficiaries of the N-Power Programme are now business owners.
Farouq, in a statement issued on Saturday in Abuja by her Special Assistant on Strategic Communication, Mrs Halima Oyelade, said the beneficiaries of Batch A and B of N-Power have established businesses in their communities.
“Statistics like this gives me joy and once again, I want to say congratulations; I look forward to hearing amazing testimonies and meeting beneficiaries of this programme who will be doing great things in the future,” she said.
The minister reiterated President Muhammadu Buhari’s vision of lifting 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in 10 years by creating opportunities to enhance the productivity of Nigerian youths for entrepreneurship or employment.
Farouq stressed that the vision was imperative because youths represented 70 million of the Nigerian Population while youth unemployment stood at over 20 per cent with 4.5 million entering the job market annually.
The minister also assured beneficiaries that outstanding payments would be made and transition plans were ongoing and would be duly communicated to them on their platform.