FG’s 774,000 jobs unsustainable, says lawmaker

Amidst the spat between the Federal Government and the National Assembly over the planned recruitment of 774,000 Nigerians in the Special Public Works (SPW) programmes, a member of the House of Representatives, Kingsley Chinda has said the scheme is unsustainable.

The SPW programme is designed to employ 774,000 itinerant unskilled workers, 1,000 each across the 774 local governments of the federation, in the first phase of three months.

The workers would be paid a monthly stipend of N20, 000 within this period. The National Assembly and Ministry of Labour and Employment had been at loggerheads on the modalities for the implementation of the programme.

But the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo [SAN] last Tuesday said he had been mandated by the president to continue with the recruitment exercise, directing the state’s committees to continue with the selection process.

Reacting to the scheme in a statement, Chinda alleged that the 774,000 jobs being supervised by the Minister of State (Labour) is for siphoning money from the National treasury.

He likened the scheme to installation of ATMs in all local governments with the intent to embezzle funds, saying the password to the “ATMs” are with the Minister and his promoters.

“How else can we explain a non-sustainable scheme, with no end value, that has no multiplier effect on local economies across the length and breadth of our country? What is N20, 000, a sum far below the minimum national wage, when inflation is galloping at 12.56% and nearing 15.18% for food prices alone? Keyamo is clearly running the public works’ job, built on effusive sound bites, with the intention to fleece our country.

“Only Keyamo and the insidious promoters of the scheme have the passwords to the individual ATMs. Pronto. Let us also remind the Learned SAN that it is unlawful to pay any Nigerian Worker, emolument below the statutory minimum wage which his ministry ought to implement.”

He also accused the executive of blackmailing and undermining the National Assembly.