More than a week or two, after the authorities of the Federal Government’s Youth Empowerment Program, N-Power, asked beneficiaries who have not been paid their March, April and May stipends, to send a complaint mail, so that their plight would be looked into, they announced on Wednesday evening that those beneficiaries who are being owed have their accounts flagged by Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS).
The GIFMIS is an IT based system for budget management and accounting that is being implemented by the Federal Government of Nigeria to improve Public Expenditure Management processes, enhance greater accountability and transparency across Ministries and Agencies. GIFMIS is designed to make use of modern information and communication technologies to help the Government of Nigeria to plan and use its financial resources more efficiently and effectively.

GIFMIS logo.

The scheme announced this on their Facebook page on Wednesday, but didn’t say why or when the said bank accounts were flagged.

They, however, insisted that it was no ones fault.

The statement read, “For those whose accounts are owed the March, April and May stipends, your accounts were flagged by the GIFMIS platform for several reasons. The Ministry is working hardto resolve this. It is no one’s fault.”

The authorities, had through their Facebook page, told beneficiaries that the delayed payment was due to errors from the previous payment platform that the ministry was operating, which has since been changed.

Consequently, they had pleaded with affected beneficiaries to exercise patience, as they were trying to check the errors. Months later, they are still asking for more patience.

“We acknowledge the hardship the non-payment of stipends have caused for you and yours and ask that you hold on and be patient.
From the beginning, we promised you that we will be honest. This is the truth.”