Plateau –  11,492  graduates, 147,889 pupils benefit from N Power, free school feeding programme 

By Golok Nanmwa ,Jos

About  eleven  thousand  four hundred and ninety two 11 ,492    citizens of Plateau state cut across the seventeen local government area of the  state are currently benefiting form the N-Power Graduate Skills Acquisition Programme .

Dr. Sumaye Fadimatu Hamza, the State Focal Person of the Social Investment Programme (SIP) who spoke with newsmen in Jos at the weekend  also said the free  school feeding programme in Plateau state is  a huge success as  one hundred and forty seven thousand eight hundred and eighty nine  147,889 pupils are  benefiting from  the programme .

According to her  “the N-Power programme is  very important to the federal government because of its focus on empowering the youths through capacity building.

3,400 citizens from Plateau state were enrolled in the first batch of the N Power programme while 8,092 got enrolled in the second batch. 

“” In  Plateau State, the free school   feeding programme  is a huge success 

Over  four thousand and seventy four 4,074 cooks have been employed ,

The programme started  with about 1,400 vendors instead of 4,473 that are supposed to serve pupils in  public primary   schools.

The criterion followed by the authorities in the state requires that the vendors must live within their communities and must be healthy. Those found with hepatitis were replaced.

Dr. Hamza who is also an Executive Assistant to Governor Simon Bako Lalong of the state on Social Investment Programme, added that the vendors must have a valid Bank Verification Number (BVN), because the transmission of the money is  been done directly from the Federal Government to the vendors. It doesn’t go through the state government or local government, or her own office, she explained.

She said .” the Plateau state governor Simon Lalong has been very supportive

 The Lalong led administration has given high priority to youth empowerment and has   embarked on a large scale youth empowerment in the 17 LGAs .

 “Governor Simon Lalong is determined  to better the lives of citizens of the state ”

“ in line with its mission statement of repositioning the state on the path of social and economic transformation, proactively  Gov Lalong keyed into the N Power programme, which was flagged off by Mr. President in  2016.”

She  said the state celebrated the implementation of SIP’s four components, namely the N-Power Programme, the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, the Social Support Programme for the poorest of the poor and the Government Enterprises and Empowerment programme.

“Gov Lalong has endeavoured to provide the environment for the effective implementation of all the components of the Social Investment Programme, She added 

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Plateau –  11,492  graduates, 147,889 pupils benefit from N Power, free school feeding programme