The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, SAN, has discountenanced the directive from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) over the 774,000 Special Public Works Programme (SPW) job recruitment.

Mr. Keyamo noted that in the directive, interested persons were asked to to go to NDE offices to register for the Special Public Works Programme.

Reacting in a short memo he made available to ElombahNews, Keyamo urged interested persons to “disregard all messages” to that effect.

He noted that it will breach COVID-19 guidelines stipulated by the Presidential Task Force (PTF) on Covid-19 in conjunction with the National Center for Disease Control (NCDC).

He also noted that registering through NDE will not ensure that it will strictly achieve the 1000 persons per Local Government Area as NDE offices are majorly located at state capitals.

Meanwhile, employment of the 774,000 persons will be done from Local Government to Local Government.

He said: “Kindly disregard all messages directing people to go to NDE offices to register for the Special Public Works.

“This will breach COVID-19 guidelines and it will not ensure we strictly achieve the 1000 per LGA.

Recall that President Muhammadu Buhari had given the Labour and employment junior Minister to proceed with the execution of the progamme.

Keyamo had come in collision with the national assembly over the legislature’s insistence on dictating the process of the programme.

The National Assembly committee on Labour had suspended the programme in the heat of its face-off with the Minister.

At a meeting in June, members of the committee were near fisticuffs with the minister who was walked out of the event.

Keyamo, on his part, had accused the committee of seeking to hijack the programme and to appropriate some job slots to themselves.

He also accused the national assembly committee of challenging the president by its action, saying the legislators acted beyond their powers.