Senate Rejects N5,000 Monthly Payment To Unemployed Youths

The prayer for a monthly payment of N5,000 to unemployed youths in the country was rejected on Wednesdayby the Senate.

The prayer came from‎ Senator Philip Aduda (PDP-FCT) in a motion sponsored by Senator Bassey Akpan (Akwa Ibom-North East), tagged: “Urgent need to curb the soaring rate of unemployment in Nigeria.”However, the prayer was greeted with shouts of “no, no” when Akpan tried to explain it.Efforts by the Minority Leader, Godswill Akpabio, to second the motion were disrupted by the rowdiness.Intervening, the President of the Senate, Dr. Abubakar Bukola Saraki, posed the question but the senators responded along party lines.While Peoples Democratic Party members yelled ‘’aye’’ in favour of the motion, the All Progressives Congress senators, who were in the majority, rejected it.

However, a motion calling for the probe of the utilisation of Subsidy Reinvestment and Empowerment Programme funds by the immediate past administration was adopted by the senators.The sponsor of the motion, Babajide Omoworare, prayed that every naira spent by the past government on SURE-P and other poverty alleviation programmes should be accounted for.‎Speaking on the motion, Saraki said the issue of unemployment cuts across party lines.Saraki said: “Unemployment does not look at your party.

“It affects all of us.“We should stay above party line.“We all agree that the Federal government alone cannot do it.“It is the private sector that can do it but enabling environment must be provided.”