You are a mere appointee — Lawan reminds Keyamo

Senate President Ahmad Lawan has said the controversial planned recruitment of 774,000 persons for Special Public Works Programme, remains suspended, and that being a mere appointee of the Buhari administration, Keyamo's arrogance should not be allowed to define the relationship between the legislature and the executive.


Lawan who made the statement during an interactive session with journalists on Monday in Abuja, said the National Directorate of Employment, where the programme is domiciled, and the labour ministry must brief the National Assembly on the modality for the implementation before going ahead.

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?”

Lawan explained that NDE, not the labour ministry, is empowered and has the capacity to implement the programme.

“We approved the programme for NDE because we know it has the capacity to implement the programme.


“We insist only NDE will implement this programme,” he added.

“Only one person defines the executive arm of government, only one, every other person there is recruited or appointed by that one person.

“That one person is the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.



“So, if an employee or an appointee, out of several, does something that does not show harmony, I think it will be unfair and uncharitable to say that the executive arm of government is not on the same page with the National Assembly.”