Analysis… How far can N5, 000 stipend go?

In from Ali Smart . . .
As part of his campaign promises during the political hustling, President Muhammadu Buhari promised to pay all unemployed Nigerian youths N5,000 stipend until they get jobs, which he also said his administration would create in large quantity.
Laudable as that initiative sounds, not many people are persuaded that the scheme may work. To many who are opposed to it, they hold the view and very strongly too that it is an avenue to provide job for the boys just like in the past.
But in a radical shift on recently, Senators from the All Progressives Congress (APC) rejected a motion to that effect. The motion which was sponsored by Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT) was greeted with shouts of “no, no” when he tried to explain it. Attempts by the Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, to second the motion were disrupted by the rowdiness. Intervening, President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, posed the question but the senators responded along party lines.
This elicited a barrage of reactions from Nigerians across the country who took to social media to express their anger and disappointment.
One Nigerian, Okoronkwo Walter asked, why unemployed youths? How about the unemployed non youths? Why can’t this system create employment opportunities for our able bodied individuals instead of trying to create another avenue for fraud? Even if the N5000 is approved, it will not be paid to the recipients as at when due, it will end up in the bank account of some government officials. I’m in support of unemployment benefits, but it is a pity that my country Nigeria is not disciplined enough to embark on such a programme due to corruption. Come on guys, let’s call a spade a spade. We are corrupt, period.
Odey Christophers said: I can imagine it, why pay N5, 000 to youths. The president said that Nigerians are lazy and he wants to add to our laziness by bribing them with N5,000. We need employment not pocket money.
Calixtus Eddy: Evil men that squander the monies of this nation without any drop of sweat from their hideous faces. How much is N5,000 that will make you people to reject such a bill.
Celestine Onyema: Someone should tell Buhari that this is not a military regime, it is a democratic set up and no one does a thing without the agreement of the three arms of government. Meanwhile he must deliver on his campaign promises to avoid painting his name in the mud.
Senators’ rejection a slap on youths
A chieftain of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Chief Sunny Onuesoke, described the rejection of the N5, 000 payment to unemployed Nigerians by senators of the ruling APC as a slap and big disappointment to youths.
While speaking to journalists in Abuja, Onuesoke said the greatest change and insult to Nigerians since May 29 was the rejection of the stipend, adding that the unemployed youths voted APC’s President Buhari and the senators into office because of their lofty promises, but they rather turned against them by denying them part of the national cake.
However, in a face-saving move, the APC-led Federal Government said that the payment of the N5,000 stipend to the unemployed Nigerians will commence next year.
It regretted that the payment could not take off now due to non budgetary provisions.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Barrister Solomon Dalong revealed this in Abuja when he paid a condolence visit to the national chairman of the APC, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun at the party’s national secretariat in Abuja on the demise of Prince Abubakar Audu, the erstwhile governorship candidate of the party in Kogi State election.
Dalong who spoke with Journalists assured that APC government would also create more jobs to fulfill its campaign promises
In a move aimed at actualising the planned social security, the federal government said plans were underway to register all unemployed citizens across the country.

Read also: Poorest Nigerians to queue up for N5, 000 soon

The acting Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr. Olakunle Obayan, said during the official handover by the former Director General, Alhaji Abubakar Mohammed, that “We are going to start a national registration of the unemployed. That we are going to take on fully so that we will have a great idea of how many of them are around.”
According to him, “We have some but we are going to improve on the information we have in our data base and we are going to make sure that it is something we can access from our different locations, even if you are down in the hinterland, you should be able to do so.
“We have all these things planned in place, all these will drive as soon as I settle down and you will start seeing these activities around NDE.”
Meanwhile Nigerians have continued to wonder about the practicality and sustainability of the scheme. Whether it was well thought out, or if it was just a statement made in the heat of the campaigns to gain the favour of the electorate.
Some argue that such schemes are obtainable in some other parts of the world, and there is no reason it cannot work in Nigeria with a bit of commitment on the part of stakeholders. And that given the level of unemployment in the country, and high cost of living, it would be a welcome development for most vulnerable members of the society.
However, critics maintain that it may not be necessary if government puts in place relevant economic policies that would create the enabling environment for business to thrive. They buttress their point by pointing at the fact that so far, the Buhari administration has not done much in the area of improving power supply, or ensuring adequate fuel supply, which are veritable resources for small and medium business to grow. They also argue that the government’s economic policies have been seriously criticized by economy experts as lacking in providing incentives to grow the economy.
But in the days ahead, especially going into 2016, Nigerians await the promise of the ruling government that it would launch the scheme. They also wait to see how far it would go in easing the unemployment situation, and the state of dejection of the section of society it is meant for.

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