By Olawale Ajimotokan
The federal government has selected 500,000 persons for the N-Power Batch C1 programme.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq gave this disclosure yesterday while giving update on the National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS).
She said by third week of last month, over 1.8 million Nigerians successfully updated their records and took the compulsory online test.
According to the minister, the second batch of another 500,000 will subsequently be made in line with the directive by President Muhammadu Buhari to engage 1,000,000 beneficiaries under the Batch C.
She added that the 550,000 short-listed applicants were being individually contacted via their e-mail addresses provided and were advised to check and then immediately log on to the NASIMS self-service portal and enrol their biometric data to qualify for final selection.
In addition she said a total of 9,196,823 pupils in classes 1 to 3 in public primary schools will receive one nutritious meal daily in all 54,619 schools nationwide under National Home-Grown School Feeding programme recommenced bythe ministry.
The School Feeding programme is being expanded to accommodate an additional five million children in line with the directives of the President.
She stated the programme will increase school enrolment, improve nutrition for benefiting pupils, boost local economies and facilitate job creation through the activities of 103,028 cooks, 100,000 small holder farmers and numerous aggregators and commodity transporters engaged nationwide.
Farouq also added that as part of the NSIP, the Rapid Response Register (RRR) has been put in place by the ministry as a shock responsive intervention register specifically targeted at the urban Informal workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. One million beneficiaries will receive monthly cash transfers of N5,000 for six months. A pilot commenced earlier this year with 3,115 beneficiaries in Lagos and Abuja
