The Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, has constituted special committees to carry out an extended public works programme initiated by President Buhari.

They will be responsible for identifying projects to be executed in states and members will be persons that are not holding any political position.

Habidah Lawal reports that on the 6th of April, minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed announced the approval of President Muhammadu Buhari for the establishment of a scheme to run in all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory from October to December 2020.
One thousand persons would be employed each from the 774 Local Government Areas under the scheme described as the Federal Government special public works programme. It is a means of mitigating the effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the economy.

An initial pilot scheme was implemented in five local governments covering 8 states; Adamawa, Borno, Ebonyi, Edo, Ekiti, Jigawa, Katsina and Kwara states.

The extended phase of the scheme, will provide a thorough selection of persons with menial skills from different local areas.

Beneficiaries will also be paid monthly stipends of 20,000 naira, while their engagement will be limited to menial and artisan engagement.

The programme will start by 1st of October.