Festus Keyamo,
minister of state for labour and employment, says up to 10 percent of the
federal government’s 774,000 temporary employment slots will be allotted to
political office holders across the country.
On April 6, 2020,
Zainab Ahmed, minister of finance, budget and national planning, announced that
President Muhammadu Buhari approved the engagement of 774,000 Nigerians on the
special public works programme implemented by the National Directorate of
Employment (NDE).
Giving a breakdown
of the figure, Ahmed said the programme will cover 1,000 people from the 774
local government areas of the country.
At a press briefing,
Keyamo gave details of how the programme would be implemented, as it is
scheduled to begin in October 2020.
He said a 20-member
committee will be constituted in each state, and will comprise representatives
of local communities, traditional institutions, religious organisations,
National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), civil society organisations,
among others.
“I wish to quickly
note at this point that this is a distinct and separate committee from the
state advisory committee under section5(2) of the N.D.E Act whose functions are
different,” he said.
“Let me state
clearly that all members of the state selection committees would not be persons
holding any official position in any of the registered political parties. If
any of those listed also doubles as an official of any political party, then
the state chairman of the selection committee of the SPW shall fill that
position with another person representing that interest. We have stated this in
order to make this process as apolitical as possible.
“However, we are not
unmindful of the fact that political office holders are also representatives of
the people. We cannot also totally ignore them in the selection process. We are
only trying to guard against some of us hijacking the process solely to service
our political interests.
“As a result and
because of the need to be honest before Nigerians, the state selection
committees would be instructed to allot to political office holders like our
distinguished senators, honourable members, ministers and governors, a number
in total not exceeding ten percent of the total beneficiaries in that state.
“This is to ensure
that majority of Nigerians who do not belong to any of the political divide
actually benefit substantially from this programme.”
Keyamo also added
that the president has “approved the use of select banks to register and
collate data of the beneficiaries.”
“The banks will open
accounts for all beneficiaries and in the process obtain BVN for those without
accounts. Consequently, all payments would be made from the CBN directly to the
accounts of the beneficiaries,” the minister said.
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