Nobody can challenge President Muhammadu Buhari’s position that paying N5,000 ‘dole’ to unemployed youths is unwise, Tanko Al-Makura, governor of Nasarawa state, has said. Buhari had ruled out the payment of the monthly allowance to unemployed youths as promised by his party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), before the 2015 presidential election.
He said it was “wise” to use the funds to build infrastructure and empower the youth through agriculture and mining. Al-Makura told reporters at the state house on Monday: “The president is the person that can tell you precisely how he is working on promises and interventions that he has created by his ingenuity.
“And if at any point in time, the president is reviewing that issue, I think he is the only person to do that because what he is doing is in the best interest of the country. “And so, it is not challengeable by anybody whatever his position.” Al-Makura was at the presidential villa for a meeting with Vice-President Yemi Osibajo over the security situation in his state and Benue which saw bloody clashes between herdsmen and farmers leading to the death of over 100 persons. Buhari had said at an interactive session in Saudi Arabia on Saturday that the ‘dole’ was not his priority. “This largesse N5,000 for the unemployed, I have got a slightly different priority.
I would rather do the infrastructure, the school and correct them and empower agriculture, mining so that every able bodied person can go and get work instead of giving 5,000, N5,000 to those who don’t work,” he said.