Permanency: G-111 Replies N-Power, FG, Says It's Unthinkable that Volunteers Could Save from "Meagre Monthly Stipend"

In what is obviously a response to the statement issued by the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment, Afolabi Imoukhuede, G-111 for Permanency has said that it is unthinkable that anyone could expect N-Power volunteers to make savings from their "meagre monthly stipends".

The group who gained government attention after a communiqué they issued at the end of their meeting in Lagos earlier this month was made public said the fact that volunteers are required to spend only two years in N-Power is a common knowledge but no more an issue, adding that what is however, the issue currently is the dangers that may result from kicking the volunteers back to joblessness.

But a statement by a top N-Power official, Afolabi Imoukhuede in response to the communiqué on Tuesday urged the volunteers calling for absorption into federal civil service to perish such thought as it was impossible for such demand to be granted them.

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In a statement Saturday evening by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolanle Abiodun which was send to CNR Nigeria, G-111 who made no particular reference to Mr. Afolabi's statement, pleaded with the federal government to reconsider its stance on the permanency agitation by N-Power volunteers.

"Having monitored events since our Lagos meeting of August 1st, we wish to draw the attention of the Federal Government led by our fatherly President Mohammadu Buhari and top officials of the administration's youth empowerment scheme, N-Power that if there is anything that is impossible, it is expecting an N-Power volunteer to make any meaningful savings from his meagre monthly stipend under the current state of our economy. This is not only impossible; It is unthinkable.

"All stakeholder in the N-Power project will agree that we have not at any time deny the fact that going by the agreement we signed at the start of this life-saving programme, we will be due for disengagement in November. We therefore see no point in repeated reference to the said agreement. We cannot forcefully renege on that agreement and we lack the power to do so.

READ ALSO: Delayed Stipend: Volunteer Reveals Why Npower Delays Monthly Stipend, Threatens To Send Protest Letter To N/Assembly

"Similarly, we deem it necessary to remind all concerned stakeholders that there is nothing impossible about absorbing the 200,000 volunteers whose term is due to end in November, into the federal civil service of Nigeria. This is a fact anytime, anywhere. As a nation, we have the capacity and wherewithal to do even more. Our leaders must not lead us into believing that anything that will benefit the children of poor and ordinary Nigerians must be suppressed with calculated cynicism.

"We call on our dear father and President, His Excellency, President Mohammadu Buhari to hear our plea and save us from the impending danger of being thrown back into joblessness, hopelessness, and their resultant depression.

READ ALSO: Revealed: Finally, N-Power Volunteers to Storm N'Assembly with Permanency Bill

"We also wish to use this medium to advise our members against any form of defamatory or derogatory statement on the person of our benefactor, President Mohammadu Buhari and Mr. Afolabi Imoukhuede, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Job Creation and Youth Employment who has shown unequalled diligence, competence and professionalism in his handling of N-Power affairs. To be forewarned is to be forearmed.

"We stand by our conviction that it remains only by absorbing the 2016 N-Power beneficiaries into the poorly staffed Teaching, Healthcare and Agricultural sectors of our economy can the success recorded by this government through this programme can be felt, consolidated and sustained. May God speak to our leaders in a language they will understand. It shall be victory at last.