Buhari’s 774,000 jobs scheme remains suspended — Senate
Says only NDE will implement programme
Senate President Ahmad Lawan has reiterated the position of the National Assembly suspending the planned recruitment of 774,000 persons for Special Public Works Programme.
The Federal Government had unveiled the scheme to employ 1,000 persons from each of the 774 local government areas in the country.
The initiative will start October 1 and each beneficiary will be paid N20,000 monthly to carry out public works.
The Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, had, last Tuesday, engaged in a shouting match with members of National Assembly joint committees on Labour over the membership of the 20-man selection committee.
Consequently, the legislature asked the government to halt the programme pending when it is properly briefed on implementation modalities.
Lawan, during an interactive session with journalists on Monday in Abuja, said the National Directorate of Employment, where the programme is domiciled, and the labour ministry must brief the National Assembly on the modality for the implementation before going ahead.
Lawan said “The National Assembly is saying that programme remain suspended until the executive arm of government comes to explain how they will implement that programme across the states.
“We passed the N52 billion and somebody should explain to us how the process of selecting the steering selection committee was done, who were the stakeholders, how were they identified and nominated, and the beneficiaries, how are they going to be selected, how do we ensure success of the programme?”
Lawan explained that
NDE, not the labour ministry, is empowered and has the capacity to implement the programme.
“We approved the programme for NDE because we know it has the capacity to implement the programme. We insist only NDE will implement this programme,” he added.
Lawan noted that Keyamo is an appointee of the government and that his actions could not define the legislatureexecutive relationship.
He said: “Only one person defines the executive arm of government, only one, every other person there is recruited or appointed by that one person. That one person is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“So, if an employee or an appointee, out of several, does something that does not show harmony, I think it will be unfair and uncharitable to say that the executive arm of government is not on the same page with the National Assembly.”