Anxiety as 774,000 Artisans Hired by FG Prepare for Resumption

By Ahmed Rahma

After waiting for months, the 774,000 artisans from the 774 local government areas of the federation will resume work on Wednesday, December 6, 2021.

The young Nigerians were employed by the federal government under the Special Public Works (SPW) job programme to assist them to cushion the effect of the lockdown caused by COVID-19 last year.

The initiative has generated controversies and has pitched the parliament against the executive. It has also caused the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Nasiru Argungu, to lose his job.

Recently, the Minister of Information and Culture, Mr Lai Mohammed, had hinted that the programme will commence this month as all the necessary things have been put in place for a smooth take-off.

The programme is designed to engage 1,000 artisans from each local government in public works for three months at N20,000 each per month.

Those already chosen for the scheme are getting prepared to start work and earn something for themselves. Some of them are getting excited on the prospect of getting back on their feet, thanks to the federal government.

This is part of the efforts of the federal government to financially empower Nigerian youths to generate more jobs to stimulate the economy, which is presently in recession.

At a media briefing yesterday in Lagos, Mr Mohammed had said the federal government unveiled the Economic Sustainability Plan to support families, small and medium enterprise and manufacturing sector to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on the economy across all levels.

He said a major highlight of the plan is the provision of solar power to five million Nigerian households in the next 12 months.

He further added that the initiative would produce 250,000 jobs and impact on 25 million beneficiaries through the installation.

The minister also noted that various other interventions were made through the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme as well as the Trader and Market Moni loans.

“For the very vulnerable, significant steps taken include the expansion of the National Social Register to 3.6 million beneficiaries across the 36 states.

“Support was provided to over 8.8 million households through the 70,000 metric tonnes of food grains released from the Strategic Reserve.

“About 1.3 million vulnerable households also benefited from the Conditional Cash Transfers across 34 states,” he said.