The Federal Government has finally spoken about the outstanding payment of stipends to the exiting N-Power beneficiaries under the National Social Investment Programmes.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, has said that the Federal Government approved the payment of stipends to the exiting N-Power beneficiaries, especially for the exited Batch B.
The Minister said on Thursday that the approval was given for the payment of the outstanding stipends for the exited N-Power Batches A and B beneficiaries.
Sadiya Umar-Farouq said the approval for payments up to June 2020 had been forwarded to the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation for final checks and payments.
She said the only outstanding approval waiting to be forwarded to the accountant-general’s office was for the payment of July 2020 stipends for Batch B beneficiaries.
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The humanitarian ministry, in a statement issued in Abuja, however noted that about 14,000 beneficiaries that were omitted by the AGFs office during the payment from March to June 2020 could be among those rejected by the GIPMIS payment platform.
It said this was due to discrepancies identified with their accounts as conveyed to the ministry by the AGFs office.
It said based on the report from the AGFs office, any beneficiary receiving payment from other government payment platforms would be rejected by the Government Integrated Financial Management System.
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“Hence their payment will be withheld,” the ministry said in the statement issued by the minister’s Special Assistant on Media, Nneka Anibeze.
The ministry said it had requested for the details of those affected and the reasons for their rejection from the AGFs office and promised to communicate that to the affected beneficiaries.
“However, if the rejection was done in error, those affected should rest assured that they will be paid all that is due to them as soon as the error is rectified by the AGFs office,” the statement added.
Umar-Farouq also explained that the Batches A and B N-Power beneficiaries knew from the beginning as they were informed that the programme was for 24 months.
