Economy, Wale Edun, on Monday disclosed that President Bola Tinubu has directed
the design of a Social Security unemployment program where unemployed Nigerian
youths will be paid.
The Minister disclosed this while briefing State House
correspondents at the end of the Federal Executive Council, FEC, meeting presided
by President Tinubu at the Council Chamber, Presidential Villa, Abuja
According to him, “At this period of heightened food prices,
Mr. President has committed to doing all that can be done to assist in giving
purchasing power to the poorest and in that line, he has committed and
instructed that the Social Security unemployment program be devised,
particularly to cater for the youth, for the unemployed graduates, as well as
the society as a whole.
“So, we have coming, in the nearest future, an unemployment
benefit for the young unemployed, in particular.”
Similarly, Mr. Edun said there will be a consumer credit
scheme to alleviate the pains of economic adjustment.
He said, “Finally, all in the same line, to emphasize that
there is empathy and there is feeling for those who are less well off, or
feeling particularly the pains of this adjustment, there is coming a social
consumer credit programme.
“So, by making consumer credit available, of course, goods
become more affordable, the economy even gets a chance to revive faster,
because people have purchasing power that allows them to order goods,
products,” he stated.
Edun also spoke on the review carried out by the Special
Presidential panel on the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which
has submitted a preliminary report to the president.
He said that the president gave highlights to the Council
meeting noting that what was done was “a review of the existing mechanisms, a
review of the existing programmes, and where there have been successes, such as
the 400,000 beneficiaries of the Geep programme, and so on and so forth.”
He added: “Those have been identified and recognised. School
feeding programme is another example of relative success. And whilst there is
still some further work to be done, particularly, as regards availability of
the financial data, which is still being looked at, the interim report has been
submitted and a key recommendation of the panel was that, especially given the
heightened, limited household purchasing power at this time, rising prices,
particularly elevated food prices, it’s important to restart the programme.
“So, the direct payments to 12 million households comprising
60 million Nigerians is to resume immediately with the important proviso that
every beneficiary will be identified by their national identity number and the
bank verification number.
“Therefore, payments
will be made into bank accounts or mobile money wallets. So, that whether it is
before or after, there is verification of the identity of beneficiaries.
“Each person that receives 25,000 Naira for a total of three
months will be identifiable, even after they have received the money, it will
be clear who it went to and when it went to them. And that is the big change
that has allowed mr. president to approve the restart of that direct payments
to beneficiaries programme.”
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