FG refutes claims of owing N-Power beneficiaries 3-month payment

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development has refuted claims by some N-POWER beneficiaries that they were being owed up to three months payments.

To this end, it challenged those with such claims to come forward by forwarding their particulars to the ministry for verification and appropriate action.

The ministry, through its spokesperson, Rhoda Iliya, told Vanguard Monday, that claims of nonpayment of stipends to the beneficiaries for three months were not true. She, however, refused to comment on whether the ministry had paid up to May.

Mrs Iliya rather said those making the claims that they were being owed may not be genuine beneficiaries of the social investment programme of the federal government, insisting that they forward their particulars to the ministry for authentication.

“We will need the names of the beneficiaries in writing for the Ministry to verify if they have been paid or not,” she said.

Recall that the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Hajia Sadiya Farouq, had recently, in a statement, said the 500,000 N-Power enrollees across the country should expect to receive bank credit alerts for outstanding payments of their monthly entitlements from Tuesday, April 14, 2020.

The development, she had explained, followed the signing of the payment mandate by her after all due processes were concluded in line with the rules guiding the federal government’s public financial expenditures.

“Those responsible for processing the payment must do it in conformity with the necessary rules and regulations to ensure accountability.

“Now that the rules were followed strictly and the process concluded, I was given the assurance that they will start receiving credit alerts from their banks today, Tuesday, April 14, 2020,” she was quoted in the statement released to the media by the Deputy Director of Information in the ministry, Rhoda Iliya.

While some beneficiaries confirmed they were paid, some claimed they have not received any payment from the ministry.

An enrollee, Mrs Angela Abua, serving in one of the primary schools in Obudu, Cross River State, told Vanguard that she had been paid up to May.

“I don’t know about others but for me, I am not being owed. In fact, I have been paid up to the Month of May,” she said.