Just In: Buhari, Lawan clash as Presidency supports Keyamo over SPW

The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has received the blessings of his boss, President Muhammadu Buhari, to proceed with the plan to recruit 774, 000 under the Special Public Works Progamme (SPW).

The Minister has clashed with members of the National Assembly Joint Committee on Labour, who berated him for compiling a 20-man implementation committee selected across the States, without the input of the house committee.


Senate President, Ahmed Lawan, in a statement during an interactive session with journalists last Monday in Abuja, said despite Keyamo's arrogance by disrespecting the house committee, the program remains suspended until the executive brief the house on the modality for the implementation of the program.

He said “The National Assembly is saying that programme remain suspended until the executive arm of government comes to explain how they will implement that programme across the states.



“We passed the N52 billion and somebody should explain to us how the process of selecting the steering selection committee was done, who were the stakeholders, how were they identified and nominated, and the beneficiaries, how are they going to be selected, how do we ensure success of the programme?”

 However, according to The Nation,
Keyamo who said members of the Committees across the country were made up of CAN, NSCIA, NURTW, Market Women, CSOS, Youth Organisations, Traditional Rulers, among others, said President Muhammadu Buhari has given him the go ahead to proceed with the implementation of the program 'unhindered', which is against the directive of the National Assembly.


He said, “I have the instructions of my boss, Mr. President, to proceed unhindered,” Keyamo said in a text.

“I have instructions from Mr. President to proceed. The states selection committees are proceeding already with the programme. Nothing stopped them before.

“National Directorate of Employment (NDE) are part of the programme. The state coordinators of the NDE throughout the country are the secretaries of those committees.

“We will work hard to meet the timeline but if there is any need for a change we will inform Mr. President.”



How this move by President Muhammadu Buhari will affect the relationship between the Legislators and the executive, remains to be seen.

But the house through its spokesperson, Benjamin Okezie Kalu, recently reminded the presidency that Nigerians call them 'rubber stamp' assembly for choosing to work with the Buhari administration, and therefore warned that the Presidency must respect the powers of the house as an Independent arm of government.

He said, "The executive should understand that we have taken a label of rubber stamp because we want the government to prosper, but should not be taken for granted.


“The fact that we are cooperating does not mean we are unaware of the expectations of our office.

“When we exercise the expectations of our office, it is important that those who are in the position to relate with us on that particular issue should understand that we are exercising the mandate of the constitution and nothing personal,” he said.