By Adedapo Adesanya
The House of Representatives has passed a resolution mandating the Ministry of State for Labour to halt action on the planned January 2021 implementation of the Special Public Works Programme of the federal government.
The reps passed this resolution at Tuesday’s plenary, saying the programme will not be implemented until a comprehensive list of beneficiaries from the Nigerian Directorate of Employment (NDE) is made available.
Business Post had reported that under the programme, 774,000 Nigerians are expected to be recruited by the federal government from the N52 billion in the 2020 budget.
A total of 1,000 persons are to be employed from each of the 774 Local Government Areas of the federation. The programme was put in place as part of the post-COVID-19 poverty alleviation initiative approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
The programme was earlier scheduled to commence two months ago with each beneficiary expected to be paid N20,000 monthly for three months.
However, the misunderstanding between the executive and the legislature has delayed the implementation. The federal government claimed the parliament was planning to hijack the scheme by getting slots in the initiative and this eventually led to the removal of the Director-General of the NDE, Mr Nasiru Mohammed Ladan Argungu, last week.
At the plenary yesterday, the lower chamber of the National Assembly condemned this action and called for the immediate reinstatement of Mr Argungu.
Before his removal, the NDE DG had publicly claimed that the agency had not been carried along by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr Festus Keyamo, on the implementation of the programme.
Mr Keyamo had directed Mr Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo to take over as the Acting Director-General of the agency.
But yesterday, while debating on a motion moved by Mr Olajide Olatunbosun, the House argued that President Buhari was ill-advised to sack the DG who was simply insisting on following the right procedures.
They want the former NDE boss to be restored to his position.
