Unemployed Nigerians to get N5,000 monthly – VP Osinbajo

President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration has reiterated that there are ongoing plans to implement one of its major campaign promises that it will pay N5,000 each to the poorest Nigerians across the country monthly.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo (SAN) disclosed this at the 10th Anniversary Lecture of Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State entitled, ‘The Nigerian Economy and the Future’.

He said the 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 programme, using recognised identification platforms and transparent payment solutions”, he added.

Osinbajo explained that the payment of N5,000 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 N5,000 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 the World Bank parameter of those living on less than US$1.25 per day.”

The vice president also observed that the level of poverty explains much of the Nigerian situation because it affects all aspects of life, including why over a million Nigerians die yearly of preventable diseases.

“It reflects in our alarming rates of infant mortality and maternal deaths at childbirth. “It also tells why so many children of school age are out of school and why so many adults lack access to healthcare and proper vocational training; why, in effect, they are less efficient and less productive at work”, Osinbajo noted.