November 26, (THEWILL) – The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, says the 774,000 Extended Special Public Works Programme (ESPW) scheme, has been implemented successfully.
The Minister also said about 90% of the participants engaged by the scheme across the country, has been paid over N40 billion.
Keyamo was responding to reports, which alleged that the House of Representatives’ Committee on Youths, Labour, Finance and Appropriations, has ordered to probebinto the ESPW scheme.
A statement issued on Friday by SA, Media and Communications to the Hon. Minister, Tunde Moshood, said, the Scheme referred to by the chairman of the House Committee, Hon. Kazaure, is not the Special Public Works Scheme under the supervision of Keyamo, but a totally different Scheme called the P-Yes under the supervision of a different Ministry/Minister.
The statement, which explained that the Minister and his Ministry is not directly or remotely in charge of the P-YES programme, however described the report of the alleged probe Of the 774,000 jobs as misleading.
The statement reads: “The attention of the office of the Honourable Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN, has been drawn to the news making rounds in some section of the media titled; 774 Jobs: Reps Probe FG’s Public Works Scheme’s Failure.
“In the said report, the House of Representatives’ Committee on Youths, Labour, Finance and Appropriations was said to have been mandated to “carry out a probe into the non-implementation of the scheme”, after a motion moved by Honourable Gudaji Kazaure on the ‘Call to investigate the Presidential Youth Empowerment Scheme’.
“However, the Scheme referred to by Hon. Kazaure is not the Special Public Works Scheme under the supervision of Festus Keyamo, SAN, but a totally different Scheme called the P-Yes under the supervision of a different Ministry/Minister. Hence, the story is a misrepresentation of facts.
“For the avoidance of doubt, the Extended Special Public Works programme has been successfully implemented by the National Directorate of Employment under the supervision of the Honourable Minister of State, Labour and Employment.
“The Honourable Minister is not directly or remotely in charge of the P-YES programme.
“The report of the alleged investigation into the Special Public Works Programme is therefore not just misleading but loaded with misinformation at the same time.
“The article which ties the Extended Special Public Works Programme with the Presidential Youths Empowerment Scheme, P-Yes is purely a figment of the imagination of its purveyors.
“The Extended Special Public Works Programme under the supervision of the Honourable Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, SAN has been implemented successfully with about 90% of the 774,000 ESPW participants engaged by the scheme across the nation successfully paid with over N40 billion so far.”
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