The federal government announced on Monday that approximately N7.3 billion is still yet to be repaid in full to the remaining enrollees of its 774, 000 Special Public Works program.
Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, disclosed this during a budget defense session of the Senate Committee on Labour in Abuja.
The program, which is administered by the National Directorate of Employment, has employed 774,000 Nigerians across the country to perform public works projects for three months, with each beneficiary receiving N60,000.
Keyamo blamed the delay on bank issues but promised that the remainder of the funds would be distributed by the end of December.
He stated that only a few banks were chosen for the program to simplify the audit process.
“We insisted on specific banks because of the auditing process.” This is done so that we have a clear audit rather than us chasing banks all over the place.
“We said the banks should use their local branches to ensure that the 1,000 people chosen in that local government area go to those banks.”
The minister, on the other hand, stated that the ministry had opened the door for beneficiaries to use any bank in their area.
Members of the committee had expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that many of their constituents who had been hired for the scheme had yet to be paid nearly a year later.
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