N-Power beneficiaries who have concluded the two-year job programme will now be able to access permanent job opportunities or business prospects in line with the N-power exit strategy, the Nigerian presidency has announced.

"Under the plan, 200,000 beneficiaries will be engaged as financial services operators under a Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) scheme operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria; over 30,000 have already been engaged as geospatial experts and enumerators in the Economic Sustainability Plan’s Mass Agric programme, while several others will have the option of benefiting from the GEEP micro-enterprise loans," a statement details.

A platform known as N-exit portal has been opened to collate and process beneficiaries’ information in line with government’s exit strategy.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajiya Sadiya Farouq confirmed the activation of the federal government’s exit strategy for batches A and B of the N-Power scheme at the 4th annual review of the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).

According to the minister, “plans have been concluded for the transition of the N-power batch A and B through the creation of the NEXIT portal, which will allow those who choose to sign up to access other government empowerment opportunities.

"A beneficiary management system for the NSIPs is expected to be deployed in 2021 which would have the capacity to manage payments, address grievances and improve dissemination of information.”

In a similar vein, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to the President, office of the Vice President, Laolu Akande, said in a recent Lagos Classic FM Radio programme that the Buhari administration will certainly not abandon the N-power beneficiaries.

According to the N-Power exit strategy document, at least 200,000 former N-Power beneficiaries will be onboarded on a scheme known as the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF) while at least 30, 000 others would be deployed for the Mass Agric programme, a component of the Economic Sustainability Plan (ESP).

Others will be given opportunities to improve or start new businesses under a micro-enterprise initiative.

The SANEF scheme is a project powered by the Central Bank of Nigeria, Deposit Money Banks, Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement Systems, Chartered Institute of Bankers of Nigeria, Licensed Mobile Money Operators, and Shared Agents with the primary objective of accelerating financial inclusion in Nigeria.

According to the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agriculture, Dr Andrew Kwasari, “over 30,000 former N-Agro beneficiaries have been enlisted and deployed to local government areas across the country for the mapping of farm lands, enumeration of farmers under the mass agric programme. They are being supervised by the agricultural development officers in the local government areas.”

President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the expansion of the N-power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1 million.