President Buhari has proposed to spend N500bn on poor Nigerians in 2016

Following the campaign promise to pay N5,000 monthly stipend to unemployed Nigerians,president Muhammadu Buhari has proposed to spend N500bn on social services to cater for the needs of youths and other “vulnerable” groups in 2016. According to Punch,the proposal was contained in the 2016-2018 Medium Term Expenditure Framework and Fiscal Strategy Paper, which he sent to the National Assembly on Tuesday. Buhari wrote separate letters to the President of the Senate, Bukola Saraki, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, which were read to members in the respective chambers. The document explained that the social welfare programme would be executed in phases but did not categorically say whether it was meant to implement his administration’s promise to pay each unemployed person in the country N5, 000 monthly. However, it added that that the scheme would also take care of the school feeding programme initiative as well as the “conditional cash transfer to the most vulnerable and a post-NYSC grant.” Buhari explained that the intervention would start next year as a pilot scheme, adding that his government would work towards securing the support of donor agencies and development partners in order to minimise potential risks. The House will open debate on the MTEF and FSP on Wednesday (today).The House took the decision as soon as Dogara read the President’s letter to members. “We will all agree that this is very important and urgent. “The clerk should circulate copies of the MTEF and FSP to all members today, preparatory for the debate tomorrow (today),” Dogara announced.