The Federal Government has directed the immediate release of N65bn for the take-off of its National Social Investment Programme.
Minister of State for Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed announced this while addressing State House correspondents on the outcome of the Federal Executive Council meeting presided over by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The minister stated that the N65billionn was part of the N150billionn approved by the steering committee of the programme.
N500bn is earmarked by the President Buhari-led administration in the 2016 appropriation bill for the implementation of the social investment programme.
The minister announced that already N25bn of the N65bn had been released into the account of the programme while the remaining N40bn would soon be credited into the account.
She said, “On the social investment Programme, what we are doing today is to tell Nigerians that the programme is starting. We have approval from the steering committee in sum of N150bn."
The second is a job creation programme aimed at training 500,000 university graduates, who would be deployed to work in local communities as teachers, agriculture workers, health support workers.
She said the graduands would be receiving a monthly stipend of N30,000 for a period of two years.
She said the graduands would be receiving a monthly stipend of N30,000 for a period of two years.
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