N-Power: Delta 2016 Volunteers Storm Streets in Protest, Demand Permanency

Delta state N-Power Volunteers during a peaceful protest earlier today

N-Power Volunteers in Delta state on Wednesday embarked on a peaceful protest to further press home their demand for conversion into permanent civil servants at the expiration of their period in the scheme next month.

The volunteers carrying placards with inscriptions that read "We have served the state for two years why sending us back to the street", "Okowa we need job", "We are saying give us permanent jobs" and so on matched through major streets in Asaba, the state capital.

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The beneficiaries called on the state Governor, Ifeanyi Okowa to absorb them into the state civil service as it will be detrimental to the state government and its people to return them to the streets next month.

Leader of the group who spoke on behalf of 2016 N-Power beneficiaries in Delta state challenged the state government to take advantage of the relevant skills and experience they have gained within the last two years by granting them permanent appointment as civil servants in the state.

The leader whose name could be ascertained at press time highlighted the numerous dangers that taking the volunteers back to the street will pose to the state and society generally, urged the government to begin the process of absorbing them into the state civil service.

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"What we saying is that we have acquired all the necessary credentials needed to fit into the state civil service. We have the paper qualifications. We have the requisite experience and the skills. Who else is more qualified and action-ready than we the N-Power Volunteers? We are begging the state government to convert us as civil servants.", the group leader said.

Another protester who preferred anonymity told our correspondent that it was the fear of going back to the street in search of jobs that don't exist that moved them to embark on the peaceful protest.

He noted that it will be a disservice to the state and all students, farmers and patients in hospitals who are currently benefiting from their committed services if eventually they are thrown out of the programme, adding that exit package being speculated in some quarters as exit settlement for the beneficiaries may not meet the expectations of many.

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The volunteers urged N-Power to reconsider their position and negotiate their absorption into civil servants, insisting that only that will sustain the successes recorded by the N-Power so far.