Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, says President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the release of funds for the payment of 774,000 beneficiaries of the special public works programme.
The minister said he has directed the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to commence the payment.
Keyamo made this known via his Twitter page on Saturday.
He wrote: “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. I have consequently directed the NDE to begin processing the payments and participants should begin to receive payments soon.
“In order 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 shouldn’t expect payments.”
The federal government kicked off the programme in July 2020, after it was approved by President Buhari as part of the fiscal stimulus measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A total of 1,000 Nigerians from each of the 774 LGAs were targeted for the programme.
Recall, Buhari directed Keyamo to commence the programme despite a misunderstanding with the national assembly.
Keyamo had clashed with the national assembly over the lawmakers’ stance on dictating the process of the programme.
At a point, the national assembly suspended the programme and the minister had subsequently walked out on members of a committee on the programme.
Keyamo had accused the committee of seeking to hijack the programme and to appropriate some job slots to themselves.
