The Transition Monitoring Group (TMG) has urged the Federal Government to devote N1 billion to each of the 774 local governments for cottage and agro-allied industries to reduce unemployment.
The TMG Chairman, Comrade Ibrahim M. Zikirullahi, told reporters yesterday in Abuja that the component on conditional cash transfer of N5000 to extremely poor Nigerians could have been channeled into a well thought-out programme of industrialization that target Nigerians in the 774 local government areas (LGAs) of the country.
Zikirullahi said that establishing industries would create employment opportunities, which, he believed, is a more sustainable approach to wealth creation than giving token to unemployed Nigerians, especially the youths.
“The TMG welcomes with a cautious dose of optimism the 2016 budget, not because all estimates are perfect, but because for the first time since the advent of democracy in 1999, government expenditure has weighed heavily on the side of the ordinary Nigerian.
“The TMG commends the Buhari administration for the conception of cutting edge social protection programmes, which collectively aims to lift about two million citizens out of the dungeon of poverty. Equally critical is the creation of a robust methodology to ensure that the hundreds of billions that would be devoted to these programmes get to the targeted recipients,” Zikirullahi said.
He added that using the councils as the channel for getting development to the ordinary people is a critical task before the Buhari government.
