Buhari approves N46.4bn for payment of 774,000 SPW participants

The Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, has disclosed that President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the payment of N46.4 billion stipends to the 774,000 participants of the ongoing Special Public Works Programme across the country.

In a message on his Twitter handle @fkeyamo, on Saturday, Keyamo said although N52 billion was appropriated for the scheme, each of the 774,000 workers would earn N20,000 monthly for the three-month duration of the job, which amounted to about N46.44 billion.

Ripples Nigeria reported that the programme was designed to engage 774,000 unemployed Nigerians, and commenced nationwide on January 5, after several postponements.
Keyamo said he had directed the National Directorate of Employment to begin processing the payments and assured the participants that they would soon receive payment alerts.

“President Muhammadu Buhari has graciously directed a release of the funds for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the SPW programme.

READ ALSO: Reps mandate Keyamo to suspend FG’s 774,000 jobs

“I have consequently directed the NDE to begin processing the payments and participants should begin to receive payments soon.

“To eliminate fraud and/or double payments, I have also directed that every payment to participants should be made using the BVN of their accounts so we can have an audit trail of every single payment.

“Those who registered with different names should not expect payments,” Keyamo wrote.

The House of Representatives had asked the Federal Government to suspend the exercise indefinitely until all issues the National Assembly had against it were resolved, however, the programme commenced on January 5 contrary to the instruction.

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