How FG will doll out conditional cash transfers to vulnerable Nigerians – Ngige

Minister of labour and employment, Chris Ngige, has stated that government’s promise to doll out conditional cash transfer to vulnerable youths and unemployed Nigerians is still alive, saying that plans are underway to collaborate with states governments to achieve this.

Ngige said that while many Nigerian youths would be paid when undergoing different skill acquisition programmes, the Federal Government, in partnership with the state governments, would ensure their absorption in different institutions after the training.

Speaking with newsmen at the APC national secretariat in Abuja, the minister revealed that while some people would get N5000 under cash conversion scheme, some would also get N10000, while other may get more than N15,000 while in training.

Some analysts, given the disturbing figure of unemployed Nigerians, have expressed doubt as to whether the country could completely provide jobs for millions of unemployed youths.

In the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) Unemployment and Underemployment Watch, there has been steady increase in the number of economically active and working age population with the NBS putting the unemployed Nigerians figure at 104.3 million as of third quarter of 2015.

“We will pay some people N5000, we will pay some N10,000, and even for people in teacher conversion scheme, we will pay more than N10,000, N15,000 as stipend while in training. And then, after the training they are going to be employed by state government and the Federal Government in different institution.

“It is not a programme we shall run alone, the state governments are going to buy into it, they are going to synchronise with us, we are going to do it in synergy,” the minister said, while explaining how the programme would be implemented.