The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo has inaugurated special committees in all the States of the Federation and the FCT for the selection of applicants on the federal government’s Special Public Works (SPW) Programme.

In a virtual inauguration conference jointly addressed by the Director General, National Directorate of Employment, Dr. Nasir Ladan Argungu in Abuja, the Minister disclosed that an Inter-Ministerial Committee drawn from eight Ministries and headed by the NDE recommended the setting up of States’ Selection Committees to identify and recruit those to be engaged under the Programme.

“These Committees would also be saddled with the responsibility of identifying the public works to be executed in each of the LGAs in all the States. This would be in addition to projects already identified by several Federal Ministries, Agencies and Parastatals in different localities across the country.

“Having accepted the recommendations, we also ensured that the composition of the Committees is multi-sectoral and local enough to balance all the competing interests in different States. Your selection, therefore was a result of a painstaking process we carried out to ensure that we make the exercise as credible as possible.

“The 1,000 persons you will recruit per LGA would be engaged by the Federal Government between October and December this year to carry out public works that are peculiar to each Local Government Area.

“They would be paid a total of N60,000 each (that is N20,000 per month). They would be engaged in roads rehabilitation and social housing construction, urban and rural sanitation, health extension and other critical services,” he explained.

He further said that the programme could be extended or repeated every year.

“After the selection of those to be engaged, they still have to be captured by some selected banks we are in talks with, their account opened, and their BVNs obtained. This is because Mr President has directed that everyone must be paid through their BVNs to eliminate fraud in the programme. 

“As a result, I direct that all the States’ Selection Committees have just three weeks to complete the selection process and return the names of those selected to us for further processing with the banks.

“My belief is that if the Committees adhere strictly to the Guidelines given to them, they are bound to achieve the targets set by Mr President to reach out to 774,000 Nigerians who are largely indigent and itinerant workers.” he added.

The SPW is a post COVID-19 poverty alleviation programme, approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Special Public Works

Imo State Selection Commitee Members

OKENZE OBINNA 08033024525 Chairman
HON. CHUKA AMA- NWAUWA 08037738342 Vice Chairman
HRH EZE UCHEGBU 08037245713 Member
HRH EZE DURUOGBUSUO 08033055792 Member
HRH EZE NWAMARA 08167805474 Member
PROF CHIEDOZIE EZE 08033807761 Member
LADY EKWUTOSI NNADI 08057820355 Member
APOSTLE IHEANYICHI GODSOM-IBEJI 08037227107 Member
HRH EZE ALI DESMOND 08035062819 Member
CHIEF HERBERT IWUJI 08037789880 Member
KELECHI OBI 08064647879 Member
MISS OGAD ANYANWU 08034521512 Member
DR HAROLD ONUMUO 08036725568 Member
PIRATIC DURUEKE 08035054752 Member
KEVIN NWANWAKA 08068523593 Member
OGECHI PETERS 08033847252 Member
DR JAMES OKOROMA 08066196433 Member
DR CHRISTOPHER OBIUKWU 08033506563 Member
MRS NGOZI UKAEGBU 08036709080 Member
LADY NGOZI IHEANACHO 08033370393 Secretary

Published on Tuesday July 7 2020. By Patrick Chima