President Muhammadu Buhari has given Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, the go-ahead with the plan to recruit 774, 000 under the Special Public Works Progamme (SPW).
Keyamo confirmed the development to The Nation on Wednesday in Abuja.
The Minister said he has the instructions of President Buhari to proceed unhindered, thereby ignoring the leadership of the National Assembly which asked the Minister to stop the programme.
“I have the instructions of my boss, Mr. President, to proceed unhindered,” Keyamo said in a text.
The Minister and lawmakers had been at loggerheads over the implementation of the programme.
The lawmakers had said the Minister did not seek their inputs before putting together members of the 20-man States selection committees inaugurated in June.
They accused the Minister of trying to hijack the scheme from the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), the implementing agency of the project.
But Keyamo, who appeared before members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour, on June 30, accused the lawmakers of seeking to control the implementation of the programme.
