By Dipo Olowookere
Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has advised the federal government led by President Muhammadu Buhari to consider paying a N5000 stipend to every family in Nigeria.
However, he emphasised that the beneficiary family must be the one with at least one school-age child and earning less than $800 (N328,000 at I&E rate of N410/$1) per annum.
In a statement issued by the media team of Mr Atiku over the weekend, it was suggested that the N5,000 stipend should be paid by the government to the families “via their BVN and NIN on the condition that they verifiably keep their children in school.”
The former Vice President noted that if this is done, as he earlier advised last year, the country would be solving the twin issue of youth unemployment and a high rate of out of school children, which currently stands at 13.5 million.
“If we do not do this, then the floodgates of unemployment will be further opened next year, and in the years to come,” he warned.
Mr Atiku further stressed that the unemployment rate, which the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently put at 33 per cent, is the root cause of the “unprecedented insecurity Nigeria is facing.”
“Idleness is the worst feature of unemployment because it channels the energy of our youth away from production, and towards destruction, and that is why Nigeria is now the third most terrorized nation on earth,” he noted.
But he said “the fastest way to bring down a world record unemployment rate is via incentivised education. An educated citizenry is more employable and more self-employable.”
“Increased education has been scientifically linked with lower rates of crime and insecurity, along with lower infant and maternal mortality, and a higher lifetime income.
“We must then incorporate those youth who are above school age into a massive public works programme.
“There was talk of 774,000 Special Public Works jobs for the youth, which was to have started in January of 2021. This is a commendable step, but it must be done with proper agenda, rather than propaganda,” he submitted.
Policy already exists
Business Post recalled that in the build-up to the 2015 general elections in Nigeria, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), then an opposition party, promised to pay N5,000 monthly to poor Nigerians. This was hailed by many and caused the party to be massively voted for by the electorates.
A year after it gained power, the administration of Mr Buhari announced that N65 billion has been approved for the payment of N5,000 monthly stipend to Nigerians under the Conditional Cash Transfer scheme of the National Social Investment Programme of the government.
The Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Mrs Zainab Ahmed, who was then the Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, had said after a Federal Executive Council (FEC) meeting that the N65 billion was part of the N150 billion approved by the steering committee of the programme.
“Focus has been given to the extremely poor and vulnerable in our society and special emphasis is being placed to providing as many as possible in the North-Eastern part of the country where a lot of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs),” she had informed reporters then.
Refinery rehabilitation
While commenting on the proposed plans by the central government to rehabilitate the Port Harcourt refinery with $1.5 billion, the candidate of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the 2019 presidential election described it as unnecessary and “ill-advised” because the facility has “failed to turn a profit for years” despite the huge funds sunk into it for turnaround maintenance.
He maintained that, “As a nation, we are better off privatising our refineries and the NNPC (Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation) through the time-tested LNG model in which the FG owns 49 per cent equity and the private sector 51 per cent.”
“Recall that in 20 years ending 2020, the NLNG had delivered $18.3 billion dividends to government irrespective of taxes and other benefit accruals to the country.
“This will not only free the government of needless spending but also clean up the infrastructure mess in the petroleum downstream sector,” he said.
