NATIONAL: Suspend commencement of FG’s 774,000 jobs, Reps tell Keyamo

* Reverse Argungu’s sack, lower chamber tells Buhari

THE House of Representatives has called for the immediate suspension of the Special Works Scheme of the Federal Government.

The scheme, which was set up to provide 774,000 to Nigerians by the Federal Government, has been mired in controversy.

The House took the decision following the adoption of a motion moved by Rep. Olajide Olatunbosun during plenary on Tuesday where he raised some issues that are needed to be sorted out for the smooth take off of the programme.

He argued that the programme should be put on hold until the list of beneficiaries compiled by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in each state is used as a basis of selection.

According to him, most Nigerians who have submitted their names to the NDE offices in their respective states have been unjustly excluded from the programme.

“If this programme is allowed to go ahead without following due process, a bad precedent would have been set for implementing programmes of this nature in the future institutions are being gradually undermined,” he said.

In his contribution to the debate, Rep. Onofiok Luke condemned the sacking of Director General of NDE,Mohammed Ladan Argungu, saying it was ill advised.

The House, therefore, called on the Minister of Finance not to release funds for this programme until all issues that are related to noncompliance to due process are resolved.

It also mandated its Committees on Labour and Productivity and Legislative compliance to ensure compliance with the resolutions and report to the House in the next one week.

The National Assembly and the Federal Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity had clashed over the recruitment of 774,000 workers for the scheme.

The National Assembly had appropriated N52bn for the exercise in the 2020 Appropriation Act. It was to begin in November.

The House urged President Buhari to reverse himself on Argungu’s sacking.

It is believed by the lower chamber that Argungu’s sack was engineered by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo.