Hard times will soon be over - Lai Mohammed

The Minister of In­formation and Cul­ture, Alhaji Lai Mo­hammed, on Sunday said the Federal Government was working diligently toward making life more meaningful for Nigeri­ans through carefully de­signed projects.
Mohammed made the assertion in Lagos at the 8th Alhaji Kafaru Tinubu Memorial Ramadan Lec­ture.
He said that the gov­ernment was aware of the plight of many citizens due to the challenges in the economy.

According to the News Agency of Nigeria report, Mohammed said that a N500 billion Social Inter­vention Programme has been put in place to help alleviate poverty.
The minister said the huge money earmarked for the intervention pro­gramme in the 2016 Bud­get was one of the sacrific­es the government had to make in the face of falling revenue.
“This government is making a lot of sacrifices and it is also expecting a lot of sacrifices from the people.
``The N500 billion Social Intervention Pro­gramme which is broken into five parts covers em­ployment of 500, 000 un­employed graduates who will be trained as teachers.
``It also covers the em­ployment of 100, 000 ar­tisans as well as the One-Meal-A-Day programme for pupils in primary schools.
``The Enterprise Scheme which is targeted at one million market men and women, 460, 000 arti­sans, 200, 000 agriculture workers is also covered in the programme.
``It also covers the N5,000 monthly condi­tional cash transfer to the poor and vulnerable’’, he said.
Mohammed dismissed certain media reports that some states claimed they were not ready for the A-Meal-A-Day programme due to funding challenges.
He emphasised that the Federal Government was solely responsible for the funding of the pro­gramme.