Despite initially dismissing claims by beneficiaries of the N-Power programme that they have not been paid their monthly stipends, Sadiya Umar Farouq, Nigeria’s Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, has now said 12,000 beneficiaries are yet to receive payment.
Farouq on May 23 said all beneficiaries had been paid in response to allegations that not all participants of the scheme had received payment.
However, after overwhelming complaints reported across the media, she has now backtracked to admit that not everyone had been paid. 
Speaking on Monday during the briefing by members of the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19, the minister said, “As far as the ministry is concerned, we have paid N-Power beneficiaries that have been verified and recommended for payment. We have 500,000 N-Power volunteers.
“Those who are claiming that they have not been paid, we are looking into these issues with the Office of the Account General of the Federation. 
“We have had issues around migrating from the platform that we used to operate to the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS) platform. So, these are the administrative issues that have hindered the payment of some of the volunteers.
“There are about 12,000 of them based on our record and as I am speaking with you, the permanent secretary of the ministry is in the office of the accountant general to sort out these issues and once we get the report, we will make it available to all.”
