Vice President Yemi Osinbajo on Tuesday said he rejected the implementation of the Social Investment Programmes (SIPs) on the basis of sharing slots between public officials and political chieftains in 2016 while the scheme was under his supervision.
The Vice President said this on Tuesday when he received, on a courtesy visit to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, the executive committee of the Young Parliamentarians Forum led by its Chairman, Hon. Representative Karu Simon Elisha.
According to Prof. Osinbajo who was asked by the President to coordinate the SIPs at its commencement in 2016, “the first problem was everybody wanted a slot. I resisted it. Why? If I do that, we will destroy the programmes because majority of Nigerians don’t know people who will take the slots.
“It was not that one was being purist, but if young people can’t get the benefit except they know someone then we have failed the young people.”
The Vice President, who recalled how President Muhammadu Buhari responded to the implementation of the SIPs, which was done openly giving everyone an equal opportunity to benefit, said: “one day the President called me that he was listening to BBC Hausa Service and he heard two young men-beneficiaries of N-Power – saying they didn’t know anybody but were being paid the N30, 000 monthly stipends. The President said that is what shows we are making a difference.
“And everywhere we went during the 2019 campaigns, we had these young people organizing themselves coming out supporting us,” the Vice President recalled.
“If people know they count, then they can trust us and they won’t destroy because they have a stake. Otherwise, people will never trust us.”
Osinbajo, who insisted that political leaders must make sacrifices in order to win the trust of the people, said any engagement with the Nigerian youths has to be transparent and honest in order to build a progressive society and nation.
This, according to him, was why the implementation of the Buhari administration’s SIPs were not done on the basis of sharing slots between public officials or political chieftains, but in a manner whereby Nigerians who knew no one could benefit and did benefit.
Osinbajo, who admitted the need to address important issues and noted the crucial place of youths in building a successful nation, said the youths are not just a demography but they are in the majority.
The Vice President, who stressed the need to ensure that the youths were effectively represented, welcomed the support of the House of Representatives members for the newly formed National Economic Council (NEC) committee set up on Monday to interface with youths, and other stakeholders on issues of employment, social safety-nets and national unity.
On his part, the leader of the delegation, Hon. Elisha, lauded the Vice President’s sincere interaction with the youths over the years and especially in the wake of the #EndSARS protests across the country and called for improved interaction between youths and leaders at all levels.
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