Festus Keyamo

…Reps Minority Caucus rejects 30 slots for lawmakers

…Whether Reps accept or not, it’s irrelevant – Keyamo

…Disagreement laughable, not way to create jobs —TUC

By Victor Young, Johnbosco Agbakwuru & Tordue Salem

The 774,000 Special Works Project of the federal government is still generating controversies in the polity, as the Minority Caucus of the House of Representatives yesterday rejected government’s offer of 30 job slots for constituents of each member of the House.

Recall that each of the 774 local government areas in the country is to benefit 1,000 slots of the special job project, from which each beneficiary will earn N20,000 monthly.

Control of the project had been a bone of contention between the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, who was originally put in charge of the project by President Muhammadu Buhari and the National Assembly which desired control.

Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, Ndudi Elumelu, in a statement yesterday, described the allotment of 30 of the 1000 slots per local government, “as grossly unfair and unacceptable by Nigerians and the lawmakers, who are the true representatives of the people.”

He demanded “more   transparency and a review of the criteria being used for the allotment, which is alleged to favour certain interests in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, to the detriment and disadvantage of majority of other Nigerians.”

Elumelu, who represents Aniocha North/Aniocha South and Oshimili North and South Federal Constituency of Delta State, insisted that the 30 slots allotment to be supervised by a member in each of the local government areas, could not by any criteria be said to be true representation of the people they were mandated to represent.

He noted that the 774,000 jobs were meant for the people and that the people looked up to the lawmakers as major channels through which they would be reached for social and economic empowerment, a situation, which makes the 30 person of the 1000 per local government grossly inadequate.

‘Grossly unfair, unacceptable’

Elumelu said: “The 30 persons allotment per local government for lawmakers is grossly unfair, inadequate and unacceptable to Nigerians. As the representatives of the people, we are closer to them and they directly interact with us, irrespective of religion, class and political affiliations.

“All Nigerians living in our constituencies are our constituents, irrespective of political leanings. We have a responsibility to protect their interests at all times. As such, lawmakers ought to have been carried along on the allotment.

“Moreover, the questions are: What criteria are being used in the job allotments? Given the 30 persons out of the 1,000 per local government area allotted to federal lawmakers, what happens to the remaining 970?

READ ALSO:NASS suspends plan to recruit 774,000 Nigerians

“What answers do we give Nigerians? How do we ensure the programme benefits Nigerians and not enmeshed in allegations of sharp practices as witnessed in the COVID-19 palliative distribution?”

The lawmakers, therefore, demanded more transparency and consultation in the implementation of the 774,000 public works jobs.

The caucus charged President Muhamamdu Buhari to immediately order a review of the implementation process to ensure that targeted citizens benefit from the programme as intended.

‘Allocationof job slots’

Giving a breakdown of the slots sharing among political office holders, Chairman of the Extended Special Public Works Selection Committee in Rivers State, Dr. Innocent Bankor, had said every governor had 40 slots per local government; lawmakers, 30; and Ministers, 30.

Lawmakers’ slots a priviledge, not a right — Keyamo

Reacting to the lawmakers’ complaints last night, the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, said the 30 slots given to each member of the National Assembly in the 774,000 jobs nationwide was just a privilege and not a right. He said whether the federal lawmakers accepted the slots or not was irrelevant because their constituents would still be the beneficiaries.

“The question of slots to certain persons was never a question of a right or entitlement, it is just a privilege given to them to recommend persons within their constituencies.

“The template is that 1,000 persons will be picked from each local government area. That means that whether they reject or accept is irrelevant because their constituents will still have their full entitlement of 1,000 per local government.

“Except they want to tell Nigerians that it is only a section of those local government they represent and not all the persons in the local government.  Or except they want to tell Nigerians that they are opposed to certain persons in the local government getting those jobs.”

What selection criteria, TUC boss asks

Reacting, President of Trade Union Congress of Nigeria, TUC, Quadri Olaleye, said: “The whole essence of the Federal Government’s 774, 000 jobs is still very unclear to the Congress. What criteria or yardstick are the people in charge using to allocate and select beneficiaries not connected to politicians?

“What is the fate of those that are not connected to politicians? To be honest, this is not the kind of job we wish for Nigerians.

“Secondly, the amount of money involved in the whole exercise can put up some cottage industries in each local government that would engage more people and the host communities will also benefit.

“As a country, we should look beyond this kind of jobs that are not sustainable. The Federal Government should fix the basic infrastructure and millions of Nigerians will create jobs for themselves.

“It is laughable that the lawmakers and the body in charge of the project are disagreeing on this matter. We can do better as a country.”

Vanguard