N-Power Story: The Stumble Of Once Mighty Empowerment Program
Once upon a point in time, Nigeria had an N-Power program. It was initiated to assist in ending youth unemployment and promote social progress. The program targeted university graduates and non-graduates aged between eighteen years and thirty-five years old providing them with a lifeline for two years of paid work based in their respective homes.
During its inception, it seemed like NPower; the embodiment of hope! The initiators of this project saw beneficiaries as they gained employability skills and envisaged a future where people would be elevated out of poverty through technology skills into productive careers.
The idea started small by sending the beneficiaries to schools, farm areas, and health centers throughout the country.
As the journey of N-Power began at dawn, there were victories as well as controversies. Graduates and nongraduates alike thronged N-Power training centers eager to learn digital skills. Coding, hardware and software engineering, animation, and Automobile among others became their world. Classrooms around buzzed with energy, hopes, dreams, and promises for better days ahead.
But then what’s an epic without some challenges? N-Power was faced with threats from different quarters due to funding issues. Critics asked if it really did change lives or just scratched the surface. Then came whispers — those things that tested the N-Power resilience.
It began innocently enough with a glitch in the payment system. Beneficiaries waited anxiously for their stipends, but the digital gears ground to a halt. Days turned into weeks, and frustration simmered. Rumors spread like wildfire: “N-Power is faltering,” they said. “The once-mighty program stumbles.”
Then came a new Administration that suspended the Almighty N-Power program for corruption alligator labels against the managers. And so, all activities regarding N-Power were stopped till this moment. N-Power is now a shadow.
So, against all odds, beneficiaries of the Npower program keep hoping and expecting that N-Power will emerge from the shadows. The glitch was fixed, stipends flowed once more, and beneficiaries returned to their duties.
And as the sun sets over Nigeria, N-Power Beneficiaries should understand that sometimes, the most salient moments are the ones that forge anew