 |
| OKOROCHA |
BY EZE EGEJURU& KEN EMETCHETA
The Imo State Governor, Rochas Okorocha has joined
some Nigerians opposing the proposed payment of N5, 000 to unemployed youths by
the Federal Government.
Okorocha who visited the Vice President, Yemi
Osibanjo at the presidential villa, Abuja
on Monday February29, 2016 told State House correspondents that giving physical cash was not necessary as it might create more problems than anyone could
think of.
According to him, it may lead to marrying a harem of women as wives
and increased intake of alcoholic drinks.
It will be recalled that on assumption of office as
Imo State Governor in 2011, Okorocha sacked 10,000 youths employed in the state
workforce by his predecessor.
His administration came up with Youth Must Work
Programme that engaged 25,000 youths who mostly complain of non- payment by the
State Government.
President
Muhammadu Buhari had said in Saudi Arabia that he would rather build
infrastructure and empower able-bodied persons to work than give N5, 000 to
unemployed youths.
“This largesse N5, 000 for the unemployed, I
have got a slightly different priority,” he said.
“I would
rather do the infrastructure, the school and correct them and empower
agriculture, mining so that every able-bodied person can go and get work
instead of giving N5, 000 to those who don’t work.”
In the
buildup to the 2015 election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) had promised
to give a monthly stipend of N5, 000 to the most vulnerable in the country.
However, the promise has generated different controversies.
Spokesman to Vice President Yemi Osinbajo , Laolu
Akande said that the policy still stands and provision for
it was made in the 2016 budget.
He however pointed out that the policy has been amended,
saying only 1 million extremely poor Nigerians will be paid N5, 000, as a total
of N500 billion naira
has been allocated for social investment in the 2016 budget.
Insisting that President Muhammadu Buhari and
the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) never promised to pay unemployed
graduates N5, 000.
Akande
said it still has plans to empower those who do not have jobs.
“The budget for 2016, which has been submitted
to the national assembly, has made an allocation of half a trillion naira, the
first time in the history of this country’s budget where you have that huge
chunk of money allocated for social investment,” he said.
“In that
500 billion, which is half a trillion naira, close to about 20 per cent of the
entire budget, there are six social safety-net programmes. And one of them is
the conditional cash transfer where government is going to pay N5000 monthly to
the vulnerable and extremely poor Nigerians. That promise stands.
“The
president never promised to pay unemployed graduates N5000; the president never
made that promise and the government never made that claim that it will pay
N5000 to unemployed graduates.
“The programme for unemployed graduates is the
direct creation of half a million teaching jobs so that they will be trained;
500000 unemployed graduates will be trained to teach and they will be deployed
to teach, while they are looking for their career paths or jobs. That still
stands!
He continued “In addition to that, there is
also a scheme to train 370, 000 non-graduate youth for skill acquisition and
vocational training. During the time of that training, they will also be paid.
“So, the
president did not say that he would be giving unemployed graduates N5000. The
N5000 monthly which is already in the budget is for the vulnerable Nigerians
and the extremely poor, and this year by the grace of God, once the budget is
okay, one million extremely poor Nigerians will receive N5000 monthly.”
No comments:
Write comments