Poll: Should Buhari pay 5,000 allowance?
– The 5,000 monthly job seekers allowance was a campaign promise
– The promise was a major factor in the victory of the opposition APC
– In his recent trip to Saudi Arabia President Buhari revealed he would not pay the allowance
President Buhari revealed he will no longer pay N5,000 job seekers’ allowance during his trip to Saudi Arabia
The 2015 presidential election which pitched the incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari of the All Progressives Congress and former president Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party was one of the most fiercely contested elections in the political history of Nigeria.
Both parties threw in the arsenals in their disposal to the campaign. Campaign promises were made by both parties. The APC campaigned on the promise of ‘Change’. The campaign promises assured Nigerians that it will no longer be business as usual.
Buhari promised to fight corruption and put an end to the impunity that has long characterized the running of affairs of the country since the return to democracy at the turn of the millennium.
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On the other hand, it appeared the Nigeria public who constituted the electorates have had enough of the of PDP which had been ruling in Nigeria since 1999.
Life had become hard. Corruption was especially rife under the Jonathan administration. To make matters worse, the rate of unemployment among Nigerian youth population had become unprecedented.
The incoming APC government seemed to understand the discontent that had driven the apathy that they promised to pay a job seeker’s allowance to unemployed youth.
This resonated well with the populace. Among many promises, the APC swept into power and the rest, as they say, is history. Now, nine months after Buhari’s swearing in as the first opposition candidate to win the poll, it seemed the reality has set in.
In his trip to Saudi Arabia, the president announced that he would not be paying the N5,000. He said he had a “slightly different priority” from the position of his party on the payment of N5,000 to the unemployed youths, which he described as “largesse.”
The president said rather than paying unemployed youths, his administration would build infrastructure and empower able-bodied men to work. There have been reactions to this latest revelation by the president.
Those in support had empathized with the president because according to them, the falling oil price in the international has impacted on the revenue base of the government. This, they claim, affects the capacity of the government to honour the promise.
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On the other hand, those who argue that the president must honour his promise have said that the excuse of ‘no money’ should not stand.
They say a promise, once made, must be kept, since it was on the basis of it that brought the APC to power. Now the battle line seemed drawn between those in support and those against the president’s move.
Now we ask, should Muhammadu Buhari honour his promise, or should Nigerians understand the reality of the times?
Kindly let us know what you think by voting below:
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