After several postponements, the Special Public Works Programme which would engage 774,000 unemployed Nigerians will kick off nationwide on Tuesday.
The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, while announcing this on his Twitter handle on Sunday night, explained that the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), has approved the commencement of the initiative.
He tweeted, “President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the take off of the Special Public Works Programme (engaging 774,000 unemployed itinerant Nigerians) to begin nationwide on Tuesday, January 5th, 2021. All NDE state structures are already in top gear for the take-off ceremonies.”
The programme, designed to employ 1,000 Nigerians from each of the 774 local government areas in the country was initially scheduled for launch on October 1, last year but it ran into hitches following the power play between Keyamo and the Director-General, National Directorate of Employment,Nasir Ladan, who was sacked last month.
Each of the 774,000 workers will earn N20,000 monthly for three months duration of the job, amounting to about N46.44 billion.
The ministers are expected to launch the scheme in their respective states in collaboration with the governors.
(Punch)
