The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has said he has President Muhammadu Buhari’s approval, to go ahead with the plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians under the Special Public Works Programme (SPW).
Keyamo confirmed this to The Nation on Wednesday in Abuja.
“I have the instructions of my boss, Mr. President, to proceed unhindered,” he said.
The National Assembly had ordered Keyamo to put a halt on the programme.
The Minister and lawmakers had been at loggerheads over the implementation of the programme.
The lawmakers claimed Keyamo did not seek their inputs, before putting together members of the 20-man States selection committees inaugurated in June.
They also accused him of trying to hijack the scheme from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the implementing agency of the project.
However, Keyamo, who appeared before members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour on June 30, accused the lawmakers of seeking to control the implementation of the programme.
