Effect of n-power scheme on youth empowerment in Anyigba, Dekina local government area of Kogi state

Unemployment is a major problem ravaging Nigeria’s population today and youths are worst hit by it. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, Nigeria’s youth unemployment reached an all-time high of 29.7% in 2018 with about 13.2 million youths becoming unemployed. As a result, most youths lack the means to cater for their basic necessities. In the above light, the government at several times have created various youth empowerment schemes to empower youths and improve their living standard. The recent of them is the National Social Investment Program (NSIP) introduced in 2015 which consist of National Cash Transfer Programme (NCTP), Trader Moni, School Feeding Program and N-Power. The N-Power program is specifically geared towards empowering youths by training and engaging them in public organisations. Against this backdrop, the study examines the effect of the N-Power scheme on youth empowerment in Anyigba area of Kogi state, Nigeria. The population of the study was put at 491 which is the total number of N-Power beneficiaries in Anyigba in 2016, from which a sample size of 220 was obtained using Taro Yamane's. Data for the study were sourced primarily via questionnaire and secondarily via web articles, journals, seminar reports, etc. Descriptive and inferential statistics and One-Way ANOVA analysis were used for the data analysis and test of hypothesis. The study found that N-Power scheme has to a very large extent empower the youths in Anyigba in skills acquisition, financial status, self-reliance and productivity among the youth. The study also gave some recommendations among which is that the government should initiate more youth empowerment programs for development, the government should provide mandatory training and workshops in the area of ICT and agriculture to enhance the beneficiaries’ technical skills.