A total number of 4,136 candidates were successful in the just concluded physical verification exercise for the Federal Government N-Power jobs in Niger, an official has said.

The state coordinator, National Orientation Agency, NOA, Muhammed Ali, made this known to journalists in Minna on Tuesday.‎

“A total of 5017 candidates applied in the first phase‎ with a total number 4,251 candidates screened, 258 were disqualified, 744 were absent while 3, 995 were successful.

‎”In the second phase which is the supplementary 752 candidates applied but 165 were available for screening, while 25 were disqualified. ‎

“A total of 587 were absent and successful candidates were 141 bringing the total number of successful candidates to 4,136 on the whole,’’ he said.

‎Mr. Ali said that candidates disqualified were for obvious reasons, including over age, wrong information, mutilated certificates while some did not have the certificate they claimed to have.

He said that the request for applicants’ Bank Verification Number (BVN) scared some of them away because they were already working and knew they would be discovered.‎

The state coordinator of NOA also said that 612 vacancies‎ existed in Niger, this emanated from those disqualified and those who were absent from the verification.

“Some people came and requested that we should register them manually but we declined.

“We are now waiting for the Presidency to tell us what to do about the vacant slots; the presidency has to take a decision on that,” he said.

Speaking on the exercise, Ms. Afiniki Dauda, Special Adviser to Governor Abubakar Sanni Bello of Niger on Empowerment and Social Protection, said that Niger was among the 13 states out of 36 states that had been cleared.

Dauda, however, said that most people initially exhibited apathy to the programme because they were not sure of it.

“My team and I had to go round the 25 council areas in the state and we got only 1,000 people registered during the first time‎.

“I had to visit the councils twice, I also involved‎ the local government chairmen to help disseminate the information but some still did not come out.

“I did all I could possibly do to see to the success of the exercise by distributing flyers and radio announcements.

“I heard that some people wrote petitions. I am undaunted about that because I gave it my best publicity,” Dauda said.

She said that the N- Power team in Niger tried to reach out to candidates that were absent but some couldn’t be reached ‎while some said they were not interested in the scheme any longer.

Dauda expressed her gratitude to the Chairmen of Chanchaga, Bida, Suleja and Bosso local governments for the thorough sensitisation ‎they carried out in their respective council areas.

‎She also said that in the course of the exercise, physically challenged candidates were given priority.

NAN