The federal
government is confident that the 2016 budget will lift Nigerians out of poverty
and hardship with the payment of N5000 to one million extremely poor Nigerians.
According to Laolu Akande, spokesman of Vice-President Yemi
Osinbajo, the presidency is set to implement the N500 billion earmarked in the
budget for social welfare.
TheCable reports that he gave new details and a breakdown of
the interventions and palliatives.
The statement reads: “The Buhari presidency is keen to
ensure that Nigerians are lifted and that if necessary on an ongoing basis,
palliatives measures would always been considered to address the conditions of
the people.
“Long before now, the presidency has made adequate
arrangements in the 2016 budget to ensure that Nigerians are lifted from
poverty and hardship.
“All together the federal government would be directly
impacting the lives of more than 8 million Nigerians in different social
investment 2016 budget spending that would provide succor and be a ready-made
palliative to ordinary Nigerians.
“The direct payment of N5000 monthly to one million
extremely poor Nigerians for 12 months as provided for in the 2016 budget for
which N68.7B has been appropriated.
“The government has also made available a direct provision
of very soft loan -cash for market women, men and traders, including artisans
and agric workers. This would be for a total of 1.76m Nigerians, without the
requirement for conventional collateral.
“Some of the traders will likely get about N60,000. A total
sum of N140.3B has already been appropriated for this in the budget. The
details also showed their there would be payment of between N23,000 to N30,000
per month to 500,000 unemployed graduates who would be trained, paid and
deployed to work as volunteer teachers, public health officers and extension
service workers among other responsibilities.
“They would also be given electronic devices to empower them
technologically both for their assignments and beyond. 100,000 artisans would
also be trained and paid N191.5B has been set aside for this in the passed
budget.
“At least 5.5 million Nigerian primary school children -ie
starting first in 18 states-three per geopolitical zones-would be fed for 200
school days under the free Homegrown School Feeding Programme. N93.1B has been
appropriated for this in the 2016 budget.
“In this same vein, 100,000 tertiary students in Science
Technology Engineering & Maths-STEM, plus Education will partake in the
N5.8B already provided for this education grant in the budget. This
payment would also be paid directly to the students.”
