The payment of N5, 000 to unemployed Nigerians is being delayed because it was not captured in the 2015 budget, the Federal Government on Wednesday said.
The Minister of Youth and Sports, Barr. Solomon Darlong, who stated this during a visit to the All Progressive Congress national secretariat in Abuja, however, said government is making arrangement to effect the payment with effect from 2016.
Speaking with journalists, the minister said the government will fulfill all the campaign promises made to Nigerians during last elections.
“I want the youths to understand that every promise must be backed up by budgetary provision and our promise to pay N5, 000 is not contained in the 2015 budget. So, definitely, it is going to begin in 2016 as we have made budgetary allocations for that.
“We are committed to the campaign promises of creating jobs, providing wealth creation and combat poverty. We have embedded in our manifesto things that we are translating to reality.
“Some of the youth empowerment programmes that are ongoing, we are busy reviewing them to ensure that they are more viable and people oriented. We are also looking at the possibility of realigning some of them to our vision so that in the final analysis, it will add value to the people”.