(R-L) Pastor Laolu Akande and Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo
During an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on Sunday,
Dr. Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity to
the Vice President, disclosed that the President Buhari-led Federal
Government has unveiled a social investment package designed to impact
on the lives of over eight million Nigerians.
Akande who explained that some parts of this package would become
operational in the coming weeks, said that one of the highlights of the
package, is the feeding of 5.5 million school children, who are to be
fed for 200 school days in the first phase of homegrown school feeding
programme for which N93.1billion was budgeted.
Another element of the package is the proposed provision of soft
loans to over 1.76 million traders, market women, men, artisans and
those involved in agriculture. The loans, he explained, will not
require to be conventionally collateralized. Some traders, he said,
may get about N60,000. A total sum of N140.3billion has already been
appropriated for this in the budget.
Also, one hundred thousand artisans are to be trained in a
programme for which N191.5 billion has been budgeted, as well as one
million desperately poor and vulnerable Nigerians are to be paid N60,000
stipend this year in a monthly installment of N5000.
The presidential aide added that Five hundred thousand unemployed
graduates, will be paid between N23,000 to N30,000 per month. They will
be trained and deployed to work as volunteer teachers, public health
officers, and extension service workers among other responsibilities.
Beneficiaries of the scheme will also be given electronic devices
to empower them technologically both for their assignments and beyond.
In tertiary institutions, 100,000 tertiary students in Science
Technology Engineering & Mathematics (STEM) and Education, Akande
further disclosed, will benefit from education grants for which
N5.8billion has been already provided for in the budget. This payment,
he added, will be directly made to the students.
"When added together this year alone, more than 8 million Nigerians would be benefiting from the Social Investment budget.
"Long before now, the Presidency has made adequate arrangements
in the 2016 budget to ensure that Nigerians are lifted from poverty and
hardship.
"The Buhari presidency is keen to ensure that Nigerians are
lifted and that if necessary, on an ongoing basis, palliative measures
would always be considered to address the conditions of the people," said Akande, who operates from the Vice President's office.
No comments:
Post a Comment