The Federal Government has started the process of fulfilling its promise to pay N5,000 monthly allowance to 25 million unemployed youths in the country with 2016 as the take-off date, Punch reveals.
The Senate had initially rejected the idea, after President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government decided to fulfil the campaign promise of paying the unemployed youths it made earlier this year.
Despite the rejection by the Senate, Federal Government has commenced plans to start the payment of the allowance while it had also taken steps to capture the free school feeding programme in the 2016 budget.
It was further learnt that the government had saddled some officials with the task of ascertaining the number of the unemployed youths, who would benefit from the scheme.
A top government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity on Monday said:
“You know that if the scheme is left open-ended, even Nigerians, who are employed and are by no means vulnerable, will still struggle to benefit from it.“You also know that if not properly handled, politicians will hijack the scheme and it will become a means of settling their constituents, whether they qualify to benefit from it or not.
This is why the government will come up with data on the beneficiaries very soon.”
The source added that the fund meant for the scheme would be built into the 2016 budget.
According to analysis, the cash transfer programme, when fully implemented, will cost the Federal Government N125bn monthly and a total sum of N1.5tr annually.
The question I keep asking myself is how effective will the payment of this N5k be in helping these unemployed youth? If N.1.5 trillion is diverted into looking for ways to create jobs yearly, wont it go a long way and create better results in the long run? Isn’t this just a short term solution to a long term problem? Me I don’t really know about this 5K o, if it will really help Nigerian youths. Just saying.
These guys do not have plans jor. How can they budget #1.5trillion for unemployed when they can come up with better job creation initiatives?
Huge part of the pay obviously would end up in their pockets.
Let them only take seriously the issues of feeding our government primary school pupils. #mysay
God bless you Moji for this comment…
This is a very bad idea, and it’s becoming more glaring this administration has no idea how to run this nation.
This #5000 is going to create more problems, this is really absurd, that 1.5trilloon will go along way to develop this nation, the youth, even rehabilitation of those youth who spent their time smoking Indian hemp doing nothing all day.
You teach them how to fish not feed them, this way they’ll become useful, have something to look forward to everyday, and if they are good at their skills, they can become a source of employment and inspiration for other youths with the same problem .
This kinda move is what make a lot of people lazy in UK, they’ll say “why work when the government would pay at the end of the week”. I know a lot of British who say they don’t work again because of the tax they take from their salaries, so they’re contempted with the little the government pays.
It’s a shame, this administration are devoid of ideas and don’t have gut. At the first backlash, they engage on a suicide mission. This #5000 project is going to be another way for some clowns to embezzle public funds. They are playing right in the hands of PDP. I pray this does not end up like the national employment scheme that claimed the life of many unemployed youth at the National Stadium, it ends in disaster.
Lord have mercy on this country, we have a lot of mineral resources, but not the administrative skills and technical know-how . I pray we don’t squander all the opportunities and funds on useless schemes.
#LordSaveNigeria…
I support Ur stance Auntie Moji! It high time we Nigerian youths stood up and request for good utilization of such money for the betterment of our tomorrow!
BTW: I don’t get notified on follow up comment oh, I guess there shld be a section for email here
I agree with u Moji entirely I don’t really see d point give the youths proper jobs dat dey cn grow it’s more profitable dan 5k den for dos dat cnt work due to disabilities u cn now pay dem monthly
I agree wit u entirely Moji givin d youths jobs is beta on d long term den for dos dat cnt work due to disabilities u cn now give dem money
You’ve said it all moji, a short term solution to a long term problems
It might be worth getting the full details of the scheme before dismissing it. Many countries do this already to cater to the unemployed and the implications are far reaching. More than 50% of Nigerians are impoverished and the get-rich-quick’ or ‘get-out-of-this-hell-hole’ mentality of many Nigerians need to be curbed. The crime rate is still extremely high and probably the most significant impact this can make will be to cause a mind-shift and restore some confidence in Nigerians that the government is looking out for them.
That said, the timeliness might be a more significant issue to consider at this point. Government should probably start with efforts towards providing free education and vocational training to empower people and then look at this scheme a little later. However, as earlier suggested, without having the full picture or understanding the entire plan, it might be a little pre-mature to pass judgement.