Additional to this is N25,000 worth of recharge cards and 1.5 Gigabytes of data.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, disclosed these at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja on Thursday morning.

The returnees arrived in the country around 11:35 pm on Wednesday while more are still expected in the country.

Farouq stated that the cash and other gifts given to the returnees were done to make them comfortable as they return to the country.

She said, “Today, we are very happy to receive them. They have gone through a very traumatic period but we give thanks to Almighty Allah that all of them are back safely. No life was lost which is the most important thing. All the efforts put in place were not in vain. I thank every member of the Committee that has put all efforts to ensure that these people are brought back safely and with dignity. We thank the transport companies for their support.

“There is N100,000 that would transport them back to their families which is supported by the Dangote Foundation by giving them the transportation fare as well as the dignity kits and also 25,000 recharge cards from MTN and 1.5 GB data courtesy of MTN. All efforts have been put in place and everyone has contributed to ensuring that at least these Nigerians have some comfort when they return home.”

Our correspondents observed that the returnees were handed the N100,000 cash and the dignity kits at the airport after putting down their information.

Giving the details on the returnees, she said a total of 376 persons arrived in the country from Eygpt.

She said the Air Peace aircraft conveyed 282 persons while that of the Nigeria Air Force evacuated 94.

Farouq said, “Today, we have received the first batch of the evacuees. The C130 aircraft of NAF brought about 94 of them while the Air Peace which I commend and appreciate the Chairman/CEO for the support and bringing back our nationals. They brought back about 282 Nigerians.

“They will be in the hall and they will go through a process of profiling and after which they will go through the immigration and they will be given their dignity packs for them to get back to their respective destinations. Some of them, their family members are here to receive them while others would be under our care until they get to their families.

She, however, warned against the consequences of war, urging Nigerians to pray for peace in the country.

“War is not a good thing. People went to study and they became refugees all of a sudden. It is an international crisis and also a humanitarian crisis as people had no food, water, or where to go. Nigerians should pray for peace and also not experience this kind of situation.”

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, stated this while briefing newsmen in Abuja on Thursday.

She also revealed that the ministry is set to conclude the new enrollments of one million beneficiaries under Batch C of the social investment programme which began in early 2020.

She explained that the one million new batch would be in phases with two streams of 500,000 beneficiaries each.

Recall that some beneficiaries of the previous batches had protested that they were owed N30,000 stipends which was paid to them monthly by the FG.

“We have sorted out all the backlogs of N-Power payments with the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation and we have moved on to the next batch.

“Currently the ministry is about concluding the enrollment of 1,000,000 Batch C applicants in two streams of 500,000 in the first instance and another 500,000 later.

“There is a plan to add another batch of 1,000,000 households and 5,600,000 persons to the CCT,” she added.

This is part of the newly-activated N-power exit strategy, NAN reports.

Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, gave this update on Wednesday, while speaking at the 4th annual review of the Home Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).

According to her, the initiative is for Batches A and B of the N-Power programme.

As part of the plan, She explained that 200,000 beneficiaries will be engaged as financial services operators under the Shared Agent Network Expansion Facility (SANEF).

The scheme is operated by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

“Plans have been concluded for the transition of the N-power Batch A and B through the creation of the NEXIT portal, which would allow those who choose to sign up to access other government empowerment opportunities.

“A beneficiary management system for the NSIPs is expected to be deployed in 2021. It would have the capacity to manage payments, address grievances and improve dissemination of information”, Sadiya said.

The government said another 30,000 beneficiaries have been engaged as geospatial experts and enumerators in the Economic Sustainability Plan’s Mass Agric programme.

Others will have the option of benefiting from the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) micro-enterprise loans.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, who confirmed this at a ministerial press briefing to give account of her ministry in the last one year in Abuja.

She explained that the order was part of Buhari’s promise to lift 100m Nigerians from poverty in the next 10 years.

According to her, the President also directed an increase in the number of beneficiaries of the Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000.

“In a bid to realise Mr. President’s commitment to lift 100 million Nigerians out of poverty in the next 10 years, the ministry places significant emphasis on youth empowerment by strategically ascertaining youth engagement as a foundational objective in implementing the following strategies: double the scope of the National Social Investment Programmes.

“Mr. President has graciously approved the expansion of all NSIP programmes, such as increase of N-Power beneficiaries from 500,000 to 1,000,000, increase GEEP beneficiaries by 1,000,000 and increase of beneficiaries of Home-Grown School Feeding by 5,000,000,” she said.

DailyTrust reports that the wedding Fatiha between the two top government officials, held last Friday, September 18, 2020, at the Maitama Juma’a Mosque in Abuja.

a source told DailyTrust “It is true that the chief of air staff and the humanitarian affairs minister have gotten married. Very few people were invited to attend the wedding Fatiha because the couple and those close to them didn’t want to publicize the issue’”

The registration which commenced on the 26th of June 2020 was scheduled to end on the 26th of July but it was extended by two weeks.

The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq in a statement on Tuesday, by the SA to the minister on Strategic Communication, Halima Oyelade said the online portal closed on Sunday 9th of August, 2020 with a total of 5,042,001 applications.

According to the federal government, 400,000 applicants will be absorbed upon conclusion of the enrollment exercise.

The Minister stated that women and persons with disability will be prioritized during the selection process.

She also re-assured Nigerians that due diligence will be applied during the next stage of selection to ensure that only duly qualified applicants are enrolled.

Farouq added that her Ministry will ensure that the applicants, as well as the general public, are kept fully informed on the progress of the scheme.

She also explained that the N-Power programme is aimed at providing Nigerian youths with opportunities to gain skills for employability and entrepreneurship which will also, go a long way in assisting the country towards the post-COVID-19 economic recovery.

The minister reiterated her Ministry’s commitment to the vision of President Muhammadu Buhari to lift 100 Hundred million Nigerians out of Poverty in the next l0 years.

According to her, the N-power programme is one of the platforms that can assist in the realization of that vision.

The Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development commenced the enrollment process on June 26, 2020.

According to the ministry, over four million applications have been received, 16 days after the portal was opened for application.

This was revealed by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq on her Twitter page on Sunday night while giving on update on the recruitment

The tweet reads: “My team and I continue to interface with stakeholders to ensure a successful transition for the @npower_ng.

“It has been 16 days since the portal opened, and we have received 4.48 million applications to date.”

Only 400,000 applicants will be absorbed into the third batch of the N-Power National Social Investment Scheme (NSIP) at the end of the recruitment exercise.

Speaking at the Presidential Task Force briefing on COVID-19 on April 21, Sadiya said members of same family cannot receive money more than once.

The Minister said “This is near impossible because the process involved is a very tedious process, where all critical stakeholders in the community are involved. The community leaders and the faith-based organisations, the youths and women leaders in that particular community are the ones that come up with the list of poor and vulnerable ones in that community.”

The “Payment Service Providers” were contracted by the Federal Government to make payments to vulnerable persons in Bayelsa, Akwa Ibom, Abia and Zamfara States.

The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Farouq, in a statement signed on Tuesday, said the project was called off after a breach of the agreement by the contractors.

According to the statement, “The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, has directed the immediate termination of the contract of two Payment Service Providers (PSPs) for failure to meet the contractual agreement to commence Conditional Cash Transfer to beneficiaries in four states of the federation assigned to the two PSPs.

“The affected states are Bayelsa and Akwa Ibom in the South-South; Abia in the South East and Zamfara, in the North West.

“The immediate termination of the contract would be with the guidance of the World Bank, and a new procurement process launched using World Bank procurement guidelines to ensure that payment commences in the affected states on or before April 28, 2020.”

“The failure of any payment service provider to meet their contractual agreement is unacceptable.

“The Federal Government through the Ministry cannot allow contractors to derail the immediate Conditional cash transfers to the poor and the vulnerable.”

Farouk announced this at a press conference in Abuja, saying her ministry has commenced advance payment of conditional cash transfer to the poorest households in the country.

She said “In Mr. President’s speech, paragraph 54, he directed that the conditional cash transfer should be given in advance of two months. This we have also done. We have directed immediate cash transfer to the poorest and most vulnerable households in the country. Because of this COVID-19, the vulnerable groups have to expanded, because we are aware that there are people who live on daily wage, so we are also going to look at those groups of people to see how we can get this food relief intervention to them in this period.”