N7.3bn public works funds yet to be disbursed – FG

The federal government declared Monday that about N7.3 billion was yet to be disbursed to the remaining beneficiaries of its 774, 000 Special Public Works programme.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, made the disclosure during budget defence session before the Senate Committee on Labour.

The programme, domiciled in the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), engaged 774,000 Nigerians across the country to carry out public works for three months and beneficiaries are to be given N60, 000 each.

Members of the committee had lamented that many of their constituents who were engaged for the scheme were yet to be paid almost one year after.

Vice Chairman of the committee, Senator Kabiru Barkiya (APC, Katsina Central), said: “In my state, Katsina, some of the beneficiaries were asked to open an account with a bank that has no branches in the state.”

Keyamo attributed the delay to bank issues but promised that the remaining fund would be disbursed before the end of December this year.

He added that limited banks were selected for the programme to ease audit process.

He said: ” Why we insisted on certain banks was because of auditing process. This is so that we have a clear audit instead of us chasing banks all over the place.

“We said the bank should use their local branches to ensure that those 1,000 people selected in that local government area go to those banks within that locality.”

He however said that the ministry has opened up the process for beneficiaries to use any bank in their localities.

“We have made an adjustment in the last few months. We are not attaching a particular bank to a local government again. So, no matter what it is, we will achieve 98 per cent success on the programme,” he explained.

The Director-General of NDE, Abubakar Fikpo said the N52bn appropriated for the scheme was domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) which channels the money to the beneficiaries through the selected commercial banks.

The agency, he said, compiled the details of the beneficiaries, including their bank accounts, and forward to the Office of Accountant-General of the Federation, which then instructs the CBN to disburse.

“It is the accountant general that instructs CBN and then they effect the payment which was why sometimes we experience failed payment.

“We only intervene in the process when payment fails. We then communicate with the beneficiaries to sort out the issue with their banks,” he said.