By Kassim Omomia
The special works programme of the federal government of which no less than 774,000 Nigerians will benefit is currently in jeopardy as the House of Representatives has ordered stoppage of the scheme and its funding.
At Tuesday plenary the lawmakers passed a resolution asking the government to halt the take-off expected to commence in January 5th next year.
The lawmakers have also demanded that the Finance Ministry should stop releases of funds for the programme until what they describe as ‘knotty issues’ around the scheme are resolved
The action followed a motion of urgent nation importance sponsored by Honorable Olajide Olatubonsun, in which they also condemned the sack of the Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Mr Mohammed Argungu and requested his immediate reinstatement.
Debating the general principles of the motion , the House noted that it was imperative to preserve and protect the integrity of the legislature whose position on the issue of the job scheme has been misconstrued and misinterpreted.
“We need to build institutions”, Honorabe Luke Onofiok, said in his contribution and wondered why the DG of the NDE would be sacked because he stood his grounds on the right to do
In considering the motion , the lawmakers also directed that funds earmarked for the project in the 2020 budget should be virred into the 2021 estimates, since the project is expected to take off next year
