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.
A motion to compel the President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government to fulfil the campaign promise of paying the unemployed youths was recently rejected in the Senate.
However, it was gathered on Monday that the Federal Government had, however, 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 pleaded anonymity disclosed that the compilation of data was necessary in order to ensure that the programme was not sabotaged.
The source 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 and it was only when a decision had been reached on the number of beneficiaries that the government would have an idea of how much it would spend on the programme.
He agreed that as a result of the process to get ready the 2016 budget and passed it into law, the scheme might not take off either in January or February, 2016.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, confirmed this also. He said:
Work is ongoing on various aspects of the implementation of that social investment plan, including the identification of those that will benefit from it. Very soon, we shall be concluding work on that; that is a very important aspect of the programme.
The plan of the government is to start as much as possible in the area of social investment, and conditional cash transfer is part of it.
It is the plan of the government to explore how to start this with the 2016 budget.
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 and it was only when a decision had been reached on the number of beneficiaries that the government would have an idea of how much it would spend on the programme.
He agreed that as a result of the process to get ready the 2016 budget and passed it into law, the scheme might not take off either in January or February, 2016.
The Senior Special Assistant to the Vice-President on Media and Publicity, Mr. Laolu Akande, confirmed this also. He said:
Work is ongoing on various aspects of the implementation of that social investment plan, including the identification of those that will benefit from it. Very soon, we shall be concluding work on that; that is a very important aspect of the programme.
The plan of the government is to start as much as possible in the area of social investment, and conditional cash transfer is part of it.
It is the plan of the government to explore how to start this with the 2016 budget.
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