N5000 for each jobless youth

There was an uproar in the Senate last week when a proposal to implement an APC campaign promise to pay a N5,000 monthly stipend to every unemployed youth in the country was voted down, ironically by APC members. Senator Bassey Albert Akpan (PDP, Akwa Ibom) had moved a motion tagged “Urgent need to curb unemployment in Nigeria.” Senator Philip Aduda (PDP, FCT) then proposed an amendment to Akpan’s motion asking the Federal Government to commence the payment of N5000 a month to each unemployed youth, as APC promised to do during the campaign. 

APC senators saw Aduda’s amendment as mischievous and when Senate President Bukola Saraki put the question to a vote, APC senators voted against the motion while PDP senators supported it. The motion was thus defeated. Soon afterwards however, APC’s publicity secretary and minister-designate Lai Mohammed said his party will stick to the commitment it made during the campaign to pay N5000 each monthly to 25 million of the most vulnerable Nigerians. He also urged Nigerians to ignore “the mischievous attempt by PDP to confuse and mislead them on the issue.” APC, Lai said, will “devise creative means not only to pay the money but also to fulfill its other campaign promises.” 
According to Lai Mohammed, the non-implementation of the policy so far is because it was not included in the 2015 budget which was prepared by the Jonathan Administration. If that is the case, then we expect it to be reflected in the 2016 Federal budget which will soon be forwarded to the National Assembly so that implementation could start early next year, but it is doubtful if this is about to happen.
Indeed, Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo said at the Tenth Anniversary Lecture of Crescent University, Abeokuta recently that there are ongoing plans by the Buhari regime to implement its campaign promise to pay N5,000 each to the poorest Nigerians across the country. He said the government is currently evaluating the best ways to collapse existing cash transfer and social welfare schemes to ensure consistency and alignment. Osinbajo said, “Once this is completed, we will implement the first phase of this program using recognized identification platforms and transparent payment solutions.” 
In other words, we have assurances from both the Vice President and APC’s spokesman that the party is committed to implementing the promise it made to the poorest Nigerians and unemployed youths during the campaign. Such a promise must have garnered many votes for it but this promise requires deep thought and careful planning before it comes to fruition. While we are in full support of measures to alleviate grinding poverty in Nigeria, we must remind APC leaders of the old adage that teaching a man to fish is better than giving him fish. 
Paying a monthly stipend to the poorest Nigerians will most certainly become a bottomless pit akin to petrol subsidy. For one, the figure of 25 million Nigerians that fall into the bracket of very poor is a gross underestimate. Official figures over the years have suggested that as many as 60% of citizens live on less than a dollar a day, the international definition of living below the poverty line. This method of paying a stipend was actually tried by the Obasanjo administration early in its tenure. All that happened was that PDP leaders made state by state lists of “youths” which sometimes included their wives and children to receive the stipends. 
There is no shortage of poverty reduction agencies and programs in Nigeria. The combined efforts of National Directorate of Employment [NDE], National Poverty Eradication Program (NAPEP), Small and Medium Enterprises Development Agency (SMEDAN) and many other ad hoc agencies over the years have hardly made a dent in the national poverty picture. Poor plan conception, lack of adequate monitoring, poor follow ups as well as corruption have all worked together to ensure this. If the Buhari regime’s poverty alleviation plan is not to go down the way of all the others, it must find a way round these huge obstacles.