After a closed-door meeting on Tuesday, the Nigerian Senate has asked Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, to recuse himself from implementing the 774,000 special works programme of the Federal Government.
The Senate had held a closed-door session to determine the next line of action on the job after Keyamo announced that he had received a presidential nod to commence the implementation of the public works.
The decision was taken after a motion was moved by Opeyemi Bamidele, senator representing Ekiti central.
Bamidele said Keyamo should recuse himself from implementing the job scheme but can only supervise the implementation.
He stated that the National Directorate of Employment should carry out the implementation.
“The Senate hereby reiterates its support of the initiative of Mr President aimed at creating additional 774,000 temporary jobs for Nigerians.
“That while recognising the supervisory role of the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Senate notes that the need for it in its oversight and further legislative actions in respect of this programme the need to hold the NDE responsible both for the implementation of the programme and the surrendering of accounts for monies appropriated by the programme by the national assembly,” Bamidele said.
Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, stated that the ministry should stick to its supervisory role.
“The appropriation of N52bn for the 774,000 public works scheme is vested in the NDE and therefore must be implemented accordingly while acknowledging the supervisory role of Ministry of Labour, Employment and Productivity.
“The ministry has a supervisory role and the National Assembly has the oversight function,” the senate held.
Recall that Keyamo had engaged in a brawl with the senators when he was summoned to defend the programme.
After a heated argument, Keyamo accused the lawmakers of trying to seize the programme by getting undue slots in the recruitment process.
On their part, the lawmakers accused Keyamo of hijacking the programme from the National Directorate of Employment after getting N52bn approval from the legislator to carry out the public works programme.
