The N-Power Dossier: Rise, Fall, and Reality of Nigeria's Largest Social Experiment -

A Comprehensive Investigation into the Program That Promised to Transform 500,000 Young Nigerians

In June 2016, as Nigeria battled its worst economic recession in decades, President Muhammadu Buhari launched what would become the most ambitious youth employment scheme in African history. The N-Power program promised to rescue half a million young Nigerians from the crushing grip of unemployment, offering not just monthly stipends but a pathway to sustainable livelihoods.

Nearly a decade later, the program stands as a cautionary tale of ambitious governance, systemic corruption, and the complex reality of social intervention in Africa’s most populous nation. This investigation uncovers the untold story behind the headlines—from the fraudulent “ghost beneficiaries” who never existed to the ₦81 billion backlog that left thousands of young Nigerians stranded without income for months.

Chapter 1: Genesis of a Crisis Response (2015-2016)

The Economic Perfect Storm

To understand N-Power, we must first understand the fear that gripped Nigeria’s leadership in 2015. The nation faced a confluence of crises that threatened social stability:

The Numbers That Terrified Aso Rock:

Global oil prices crashed from $115 per barrel (June 2014) to below $30 (January 2016)
Nigeria’s economy contracted by -1.6% in 2016, the worst performance in 25 years
Youth unemployment (ages 15-24) soared to 8.75% officially, though independent estimates placed it above 40%
The naira plummeted from ₦199/$ to ₦350/$ on the parallel market

The Security Dimension

Nigeria’s leadership understood what economists often miss: mass youth unemployment doesn’t just create poverty—it fuels insurgency. In 2015:

Boko Haram controlled territory equivalent to Belgium in the Northeast
Niger Delta militants resumed pipeline attacks, costing billions in lost oil revenue
Urban crime skyrocketed in Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt

According to research published by the National Bureau of Statistics, unemployed youth comprised a disproportionate percentage of recruits for both criminal gangs and insurgent groups.

The N-Power Solution

Launched on 8 June 2016 as a component of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), N-Power borrowed elements from:

Western workfare programs (work-for-welfare models)
Brazil’s Bolsa Família (conditional cash transfers)
India’s MGNREGA (rural employment guarantee schemes)

The Core Promise:

500,000 young Nigerians (ages 18-35) enrolled annually
₦30,000 monthly stipends for 24 months
Skills training and certification
Post-program exit loans for entrepreneurship (the NEXIT program)

Chapter 2: Anatomy of the N-Power Ecosystem

A. The Graduate Categories: Filling Public Sector Gaps

The graduate stream required a Higher National Diploma (HND) or Bachelor’s degree and completion of the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) program.

N-Teach: The Classroom Intervention

N-Teach deployed 150,000 volunteers to primary and secondary schools across Nigeria’s 774 local government areas.

The Reality on the Ground: Research from the University of Minna found that in rural areas of Niger, Kebbi, and Sokoto states, N-Teach volunteers weren’t just supplementary—they often became the only teachers present in schools. This masked the Federal Government’s chronic failure to hire permanent educators.

Case Study – Zamfara State: In 2018, 67% of primary schools in Zamfara had teacher-to-student ratios exceeding 1:80. N-Teach volunteers temporarily stabilized these ratios but created dependency. When Batch A was exited in 2020, schools faced collapse.

N-Health: Community Health Warriors

N-Health deployed 30,000 volunteers to primary healthcare centers, focusing on:

Routine immunization campaigns
Maternal health education
Disease surveillance

COVID-19 Vindication: The N-Health cadre proved crucial during Nigeria’s COVID-19 response. According to the Ministry of Health, N-Health volunteers conducted over 2.3 million contact-tracing visits in rural communities where traditional health infrastructure was absent.

N-Agro: The Disconnected Extension Workers

N-Agro aimed to deploy 20,000 agricultural extension agents to boost food security.

The Fundamental Flaw: A 2024 study published in the British Journal of Economics revealed that 42% of N-Agro beneficiaries in Cross River State were deployed to urban LGAs with minimal agricultural activity. They received stipends for phantom assignments, unable to reach farmers who needed their services.

B. The Non-Graduate Categories: Skills for the Future?

N-Build: Construction and Craftsmanship

Focused on training in:

Masonry and bricklaying
Welding and metal fabrication
Plumbing and electrical installation

N-Tech: The Digital Divide

The N-Tech and later N-Knowledge programs distributed laptops and tablets to teach:

Web development (HTML, CSS, JavaScript)
Hardware repair and maintenance
Basic IT support

The Black Market Problem: Investigative reports from Ripples Nigeria documented that government-issued tablets worth ₦80,000 each appeared for sale in Lagos’s Computer Village before beneficiaries even received them. The supply chain corruption was endemic.

Chapter 3: The Vanishing Stipend – A Story of Inflation

This is the story mainstream Nigerian media consistently misses: the N-Power stipend didn’t just fail to increase—its real value collapsed by 70% due to naira devaluation and inflation.

2016: When ₦30,000 Meant Something

Exchange Rate: ₦350/$ (parallel market)
Real Value: ~$85 USD/month
Purchasing Power:

Rent for a single room in Kano: ₦18,000
Monthly transport (Lagos): ₦6,000
Food staples (rice, beans, garri): ₦12,000
Surplus: ₦4,000 for savings

2024: The Poverty Stipend

Exchange Rate: ₦1,500/$ (parallel market)
Real Value: ~$20 USD/month
Purchasing Power:

Same room rent in Kano: ₦45,000
Monthly transport (Lagos, post-subsidy removal): ₦15,000
Food staples (same items): ₦28,000
Deficit: -₦38,000

According to Nigeria’s National Bureau of Statistics inflation data, the country’s inflation rate reached 32.5% in 2024, with food inflation near 40%.

The Absenteeism Crisis: By 2023, attendance at Places of Primary Assignment (PPAs) dropped below 50% in many states. Beneficiaries couldn’t afford transport to work locations. The stipend became economically irrational.

Chapter 4: The Political Triangle of Control

Phase 1: The Technocratic Era (2016-2019)

Leadership: Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s office, with Afolabi Imoukhuede as Special Assistant on Job Creation

Key Achievements:

Implemented Bank Verification Number (BVN) screening to eliminate duplicates
Processed 93% of 200,000 Batch A applicants through biometric verification
Transparent selection through online assessment tests

The Fatal Flaw: Despite being designed as a 24-month program, the government failed to exit Batch A and B on schedule. Fear of electoral backlash before the 2019 general elections meant beneficiaries stayed enrolled for 43 months (Batch A) and 36 months (Batch B), draining budgets meant for new cohorts.

Phase 2: Political Capture (2019-2023)

Leadership: Minister Sadiya Umar Farouq, Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development

The NASIMS Black Box: In 2019, the ministry launched the National Social Investment Management System (NASIMS), ostensibly a centralized platform for managing beneficiaries.

What Actually Happened:

Payment delays became routine—beneficiaries went 8-12 months without stipends
Transparency collapsed; beneficiaries couldn’t access payment schedules
The ministry accumulated a ₦81 billion backlog by 2023

According to Senate investigations in July 2025, the backlog covered unpaid stipends from 2022-2023, affecting over 200,000 Batch C beneficiaries.

Phase 3: The Implosion (2023-Present)

Leadership: Minister Betta Edu (suspended January 2024)

The Scandal: In January 2024, President Bola Tinubu suspended Minister Betta Edu after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) uncovered that ₦30 billion ($24 million) meant for vulnerable beneficiaries had been diverted to private bank accounts.

EFCC Chairman Ola Olukoyede’s Revelation: “We are investigating over 50 bank accounts that we have traced money into. We have recovered ₦30 billion already in the coffers of the federal government.”

The Aftermath:

Complete suspension of N-Power payments for “forensic audits”
Batch C Stream 1 and 2 beneficiaries abandoned mid-program
Promises of NEXIT loans evaporated

Chapter 5: The Untold Frauds – Ghost Beneficiaries and System Exploitation

The Ghost Network

Despite BVN verification, fraudsters developed sophisticated methods to game the system:

Method 1: Identity Farming Corrupt officials registered real people who never applied using stolen BVN data, then controlled the linked bank accounts to siphon stipends.

Method 2: Insider Collusion IT contractors with database access created synthetic profiles that passed automated checks but linked to mule accounts.

Scale of the Problem: While official figures claim 500,000 beneficiaries, research from the University of Lagos suggests 15-20% of enrolled beneficiaries in Batch B and C never performed actual work, indicating ghost workers.

This explains why the government spent billions while legitimate beneficiaries went unpaid for months—the money was being stolen before reaching real people.

Chapter 6: The NEXIT Betrayal – The Exit That Never Happened

The Original Promise

When Batch A and B were finally exited in 2020, the government announced the N-Power Exit Programme (NEXIT): a partnership with the Central Bank of Nigeria to provide:

Business skills training
₦500,000 to ₦3 million in low-interest loans
Entrepreneurship mentoring

The Reality Check

According to Ripples Nigeria reporting in March 2022:

Out of 370,000 interested Batch A/B beneficiaries, 140,000 failed the NEXIT selection process
Only 230,000 qualified for training
Of those who completed training, less than 30% ever received loan disbursements

The CBN Silence: The Central Bank of Nigeria, facing its own liquidity crisis, quietly abandoned large-scale disbursements. Thousands of exited N-Power volunteers found themselves:

Without their ₦30,000 monthly stipend
Without the promised startup capital
Worse off than before enrollment, now saddled with debt from living expenses during the program

Chapter 7: Impact Assessment – Did N-Power Work?

The Successes (Real but Limited)

Immediate Income Relief Research published in the European Scientific Journal found that N-Power “tremendously influenced volunteers’ standard of living” during the early years (2016-2019) when the stipend retained purchasing power.
Skills Acquisition Studies from Rivers State University documented that 67% of N-Health and non-graduate beneficiaries reported acquiring “relevant employable skills.”
Service Delivery in Underserved Areas N-Teach and N-Health temporarily filled critical gaps in education and healthcare in rural LGAs where government presence was minimal.

The Failures (Systemic and Structural)

No Sustainable Job Creation A 2023 assessment by the National Economic Summit Group found that only 8.3% of exited beneficiaries secured formal employment within 12 months of leaving N-Power.
Dependency Without Transition The program created a class of “stipend-dependent” youth without building sustainable pathways out of unemployment.
Corruption Undermined Impact The ₦279 billion spent between 2016-2019 should have transformed lives. Instead, billions were lost to fraud, ghost workers, and delayed payments.
Inflation Erasure The government’s refusal to index the stipend to inflation meant beneficiaries saw their real income collapse by 70% even as they continued to work.

Chapter 8: The Cost of Broken Promises – A Generation’s Perspective

Voices from the Ground

Aisha Mohammed, 29, Batch B (N-Teach), Katsina State: “I taught 85 primary school pupils for three years. When they exited us in 2020, I applied for NEXIT. I passed the training. It’s 2024—I never received one naira for the business loan. I’m back to selling recharge cards.”

Chinedu Okafor, 32, Batch C Stream 1 (N-Tech), Anambra State: “They owe me nine months of backlog. Nine months! I borrowed money to transport to my PPA thinking the payment would come ‘next month.’ Now I owe my brother ₦120,000. The government destroyed my credit.”

Chapter 9: What Other Countries Got Right (That Nigeria Didn’t)

Brazil’s Bolsa Família: The Gold Standard

Brazil’s conditional cash transfer program, which inspired N-Power, achieved remarkable success because:

Consistent payment schedules maintained trust
Inflation indexing protected purchasing power
Rigorous auditing minimized fraud (less than 2% leakage)
Gradual exit mechanisms prevented cliff-edge poverty

Rwanda’s Vision 2020 Umurenge Programme

Rwanda’s youth employment program succeeded where N-Power failed:

Smaller, manageable cohorts (50,000 annually vs. Nigeria’s 500,000)
Stronger accountability through local government oversight
Integration with private sector from day one

India’s MGNREGA: Scale with Systems

India’s massive rural employment scheme manages 55 million households annually through:

Transparent wage payment systems (direct bank transfers within 15 days)
Social audits by community members
Real-time monitoring via digital platforms

Nigeria’s Lesson: Scale without systems breeds corruption. N-Power expanded too fast without building institutional capacity to manage it.

Chapter 10: The Path Forward – Can N-Power Be Salvaged?

What Must Change Immediately

Clear the ₦81 Billion Backlog The Senate’s July 2025 commitment to disburse the backlog must be honored transparently with published payment schedules.
Index the Stipend to Inflation ₦30,000 in 2026 is economic cruelty. The stipend must be adjusted to ₦75,000-₦100,000 to reflect current economic realities, or the program remains a poverty trap.
Complete Forensic Audits President Tinubu’s panel investigating Betta Edu and the humanitarian ministry must publish findings and prosecute all implicated officials.
Honor NEXIT Commitments The 300,000+ Batch A/B beneficiaries who completed NEXIT training deserve their promised loans. This isn’t charity—it’s fulfilling a contract.

Structural Reforms for the Future

Decentralize Program Management Move oversight from a single federal ministry to state-level implementation with independent auditors.
Build Exit Pathways from Day One Partner with corporations like Dangote Group, Access Bank, and MTN Nigeria to guarantee job placements for top-performing beneficiaries.
Introduce Performance Metrics Pay stipends based on verified attendance and outcomes (students taught, farmers trained, health visits completed).
Leverage Technology Properly Use blockchain-based payment systems to eliminate ghost beneficiaries and ensure transparency.

Conclusion: The Experiment That Revealed Nigeria’s Core Challenge

The N-Power program stands as a monument to Nigeria’s greatest paradox: the capacity to envision grand solutions coupled with the inability to execute them honestly.

Nigeria proved it could recruit and mobilize half a million young people—the largest single employment initiative in African history. The logistical achievement was extraordinary. But the follow-through was disastrous.

The program exposed the three cancers eating away at Nigerian governance:

Systemic Corruption: From ghost beneficiaries to diverted funds, every level became a theft opportunity
Political Instrumentalization: Social programs became patronage tools rather than poverty solutions
Abandonment of Commitment: Promises made (NEXIT loans, timely payments) became promises forgotten

The Human Cost

Beyond statistics and billions of naira, N-Power created a generation of young Nigerians who learned a bitter lesson: their government cannot be trusted to keep promises. This psychological damage—the erosion of civic trust—may be the program’s most enduring legacy.

A Call to Action

For N-Power to have any future, Nigeria’s leadership must answer three questions:

Will you pay what you owe to those who already served?
Will you prosecute those who stole from the vulnerable?
Will you build systems that work, or just announce programs that sound good?

The young Nigerians who enrolled in N-Power didn’t ask for charity. They asked for opportunity. They showed up to teach in rural schools, assist in understaffed clinics, and serve their communities. They kept their part of the bargain.

Now, Nigeria must keep its own.

References and Further Reading

DISCLAIMER

This article is an independent journalistic investigation and has no official link, affiliation, or endorsement from the Nigerian Federal Government, the N-Power program, or the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs. The content provided here is for informational and educational purposes only, based on public sources and verifiable data, and does not constitute legal or financial advice or a guarantee of selection. We emphasize that this website does not handle applications, process payments, or have access to government databases; for any official procedures, requests, or verifications, please use only authorized government channels (such as npower.gov.ng or nasims.gov.ng). We strongly advise that the official application process is free of charge, and any request for payment by third parties constitutes an attempted fraud. By using this content, the reader acknowledges that the editors are not responsible for changes in public policies or decisions made based on this information, and declares to be aware that this website may display third-party advertising without compromising our editorial independence.