According to the Minister of Information and Culture, the N5,000 monthly payment to the unemployed will be achieved through partnerships with the World Bank and other multilateral organizations.
''We are being partnered in this by the World Bank and other multilateral organizations,'' he said. ''It has been done in many countries before and we believe that it can be done here. Many people have written ridiculously about N5000 and claimed that it is not up to what they spend on recharge cards. And we said yes, those who are writing such things are not the average Nigerians we are seeking to help.''
Lai said an intervention fund of 500bn has been provided for the purpose of the N5000 monthly payments, while explaining how the money will be expended; the Information minister said the following;
''What we want to achieve by our social intervention of which the conditional transfer is just one part, is to move out millions of Nigerians from poverty. That is why we have this half a trillion naira social intervention.''
''Part of what we intend to do with the half a trillion naira is to train market women, artisans and unemployed graduates in the art of management and also give them loans to start their own businesses. Part of our social intervention also includes the transfer of N5000 to the most vulnerable people.
''If you look at the lady who is selling water melon or pawpaw, she does not have up to N5000 capital. People don’t know that N5000 can be meaningful for many Nigerians because they are too comfortable in their corners. They do not know that N5,000 can make the difference between life and death for many Nigerians.
“Many people have died because they cannot afford transportation to the health centres. We are grappling with the reality on ground and we know that this conditional cash transfer is working in some states and it is being piloted by DFID. In Jigawa, Yobe, and Kano, a British group is tying the conditional N5000 transfer on a pilot scheme.
“When we say conditional transfer, it means that you must show evidence that you have enrolled your children in school and immunised them. It is not just that we are giving you money free, you must also show evidence that you have complied with some obligations. We know it works because it has increased school enrolment, led to a drop in mortality rate and decline in stunted growth.
''Apart from blockages and savings, there are many government institutions today, who ought to be returning money to the treasury but they are not doing so. We know that some organisations made over N20 billion last year but returned less than N100 million to the treasury.
''This is why the idea of the Treasury Single Account is so important to us. We are going back to the basics. We believe that the money for this project will come from savings, budget and prudent management. Also we are going to have support from multilateral organisations, especially in the area of cash transfer. Again some of these projects are not just recurrent, they are also capital in a way.''
The President Buhari led government had initially disowned the promise of the N5000 monthly unemployment payment made during the campaigns by the All Progressives Congress (APC) but have since changed position owing to popular demand and angst.
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