The Buhari Administration at the weekend declared that
there are ongoing plans to implement one of its striking campaign
promises that it will pay N5000 each to the poorest Nigerians across the
country.
Vice President Yemi Osinbajo who gave the hint
noted that government is “currently evaluating the best ways to
collapse existing cash transfer and social welfare schemes to ensure
consistency and alignment.
“Once this is completed, we
will implement the first phase of this program, using recognized
identification platforms and transparent payment solutions”, he added.
Osinbajo
who disclosed this at the 10th Year Anniversary Lecture of Crescent
University, Abeokuta, Ogun State titled, ‘The Nigerian Economy and the
Future’, also said the federal government has identified the weak
transmission grid, which prevents the wheeling of more than 5,000MW as a
gridlock to be removed.
He assured that the Buhari
administration would work with the distribution companies to ensure the
necessary investment to get electricity to consumers is in place.
On
the pervasive poverty ravaging the country, Osinbajo said the payment
of N5000 each to poor Nigerians was necessary because “we cannot talk
about the economy of the future without addressing how we move people
out of poverty.
“One of the most striking promises we
made during the campaign was the payment of Five Thousand Naira to the
poorest Nigerians across the country”, he noted, even as he regretted
that today, “about 112 million (66% of Nigerians) are deemed extremely
poor, measured by World Bank parameter of those living on less than
US$1.25 per day.”
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