The presidency yesterday said President Muhammadu Buhari never at any point during his 2015 presidential campaign made a promise to pay N5,000 monthly stipend to unemployed graduates in the country.
It however, stated that there was a provision of half a trillion naira in the 2016 budget which was mapped out to execute s social safety net programmes.
According to the presidency, one of the programmes was a conditional cash transfer where the federal government would pay N5,000 monthly to the vulnerable and extremely poor Nigerians.
Giving clarification on the matter which had become controversial following Buhari’s reversal of the promise, the media aide to the Vice President, Mr. Laolu Akande, who spoke with State House Correspondents in Abuja, said the payment of N5,000 to the less privileged contained in the budget would be implemented.
Akande also stated that about of 500,000 graduates who would be integrated into the teaching system would be paid N5,000 token while on training.
He said: “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. 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 N5,000 monthly to the vulnerable and extremely poor Nigerians. That promise stands.
“The president never promised to pay unemployed graduates N5,000; the president never made that promise and the government never made that claim that it will pay N5,000 to unemployed graduates. The programme for unemployed graduates is the direct creation of half a million teaching jobs so that they will be trained; 500,000 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!
“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 he would be giving unemployed graduates N5,000. The N5,000 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 N5,000 monthly.”
Meanwhile, Buhari returned to Abuja last night after a week-long official trips to Saudi Arabia Qatar
The presidential flight carrying the president landed at about 8:30p.m. at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja monday.
Also speakig on the issue yesterday, Governor Rochas Okorocha of Imo State, said he was in support of President Buhari’s decision not to pay N5,000 stipend to unemployed graduates.
The governor who spoke with State House correspondents after a private meeting with Vice President Yemi Osinbajo at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said giving physical cash was not necessary.
He said giving the money might create more problems them anyone could think of.
According to him, it could lead to marrying many of women as wives and increased intake of alcoholic drinks.
Okorocha said it would have been a great idea to pay the money but that there were many other ways to redeem the pledge.
He said: “To be honest with you, it is a great idea, but there are many ways to give that support.
“Sometimes, it could be in cash which has its negative challenges. Handling of that is also in itself a wonderful and great idea.
“Take for instance, in Imo State now, they used to do what they called empowerment. They buy motorcycles and give people N5,000 or N10,000, for me that is not my style.
“My style is to declare free education, from primary, secondary to university. Nobody pays one naira in Imo State. The very poor people who have to endure a lot of social inconveniences to pay school fees are no longer doing that. What has happened is that they have saved that money to produce further wealth.”
But in their reactions, the leadership of Labour Party (LP) and Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN) have they were surprised that President Buhari was planning to renege on implementing one of the cardinal promises of his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Speaking in a telephone interview with THISDAY yesterday, the National Chairman of LP, Alhaji Abdulkadir Abdulsalam, said the party was not surprised at the president’s action, saying the APC administration since inception was behaving as if it was not prepared for the challenges of governance.
“When the APC was campaigning for the election, they never knew they were going to come to power. They believed they would remain an opposition party. Look at how they were brandishing their change mantra but Nigerians are beginning to see that the APC and Buhari administration are a conglomeration of elderly people treating the people with lies.
“They promised that they are going to create employment and they have failed, they promised that they were going to pay the unemployed and less privileged allowances and stipends but they have also reneged. We are surprised at the turn of events,” he said.
On its part, the CBCN said it would be disingenuous for politicians to make promises during political campaigns only to abandon them after assuming office.
President of CBCN and Archbishop of Jos, Ignatius Kaigama, told THISDAY in an exclusive interview that “we all advise politicians to be prudent in making campaign promises. Before making such promises, they should be adequately thought off, adequately reasoned and adequately planned.
“If during elections campaign promises were made, those promises should be kept, otherwise, the voting population will feel disappointed and used.
“They have to reason before they make political promises, then, there will be an effective way to respond to youth unemployment.”
Also, the organised labour monday demanded more clarification from government on whether the N5,000 social security stipend.
A member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) and Central Working Committee, Issa Aremu, told THISDAY that “APC needs coherence; we need clarification on the president’s decision.”
According to Aremu, the president’s intension might be on how to make the programme ‘effective and sustainable’ for the overall interest of unemployed Nigerian youths.
He urged the president and the APC government to “involve all stakeholders” in coming out with an alternative plan.
