Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State

The Ogun government said on Tuesday that 5,219 candidates have been selected from the state to participate in the first phase of the Federal Government N-Power Volunteer Corps (NPVC) programme.

The state Commissioner for Special Duties and Inter-Governmental Affairs, Mr Adeleke Adewolu, disclosed this in Abeokuta in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN)

Adewolu, who is the  focal person for the Federal Government in the state on the programme, said that  the scheme was designed to help young unemployed Nigerian graduates acquire and develop skills to become solution providers in their communities.

He added that the scheme was also aimed at  assisting them to become players in the domestic and global markets.

Adewolu explained that a total of 5,799 of the 18,273 applicants  were initially shortlisted for the programme in Ogun.

” The shortlisted candidates were grouped into three categories– N-Teach with 4,4068 volunteers, N-Agro with 849 volunteers and N-Health with 542 volunteers

“The distribution was based on their  respective choices during the application process,” he said.

Adewolu added that about 580 of the shortlisted candidates could , however, not scale through the verification exercise that was conducted between Dec. 8 and Dec. 15.

Those who did not succeed in the scheme, he said, may be because they did not turn up for the exercise or the information they supplied could not be substantiated.

“The programme, which is designed for youths between the ages of 18 and 35 years, will run for two years with a monthly stipend of N30,000 payable by the Federal Government to each participant.

“The successful candidates are expected to visit the headquarters of their specified local governments of residence for further information and also log on to www.npower.gov.ng to update their BVN and bank account information,” he said.

He explained that a total of 13,866 were allocated to the state, adding that all of them could not be accommodated within the 2016 financial year.

“The programme is ongoing and those that could not the selected now would be considered in the subsequent phases of the programme,” he said.

The commissioner said that a need assessment tour was conducted across different sectors of the state before candidates were selected into the different categories.

He said that the successful candidates had already been deployed to their primary places of assignment which are close to their residences.

Adewolu added that volunteers in the N-Agro and N-Health groups would undergo a “face-to-face training programme’’ for four and two weeks respectively while online training programme for candidates in the N-Teach category is ongoing.

He said the training programme would be jointly conducted by the state government and the N-Power office of the Federal Government.

Adewolu said that the list of successful candidates had already been forwarded to Abuja for other processes, including appointment letter and salary.

Some of the beneficiaries of the programme, who spoke with NAN, commended the Federal Government for the programme.

Miss Hamzat Omotunde, a 28-year-old graduate of Tai Solarin University of Education, Ijebu-Ode, told NAN that she had been posted to Lisabi Grammer School, Abeokuta, some 200 metres from her house.

Mr Emmanuel Timothy, a 31-year-old NCE graduate, who claimed to have been unemployed since 2012, said he had been posted to ALNG Primary School in Imala, Oyan Dam community where he lives.(NAN)