The Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo, traded words with members of the National Assembly on Tuesday over the National Directorate of Employment recruitment exercise.
According to Punch, trouble started when the Director-General of the NDE, Mr. Nasiru Ladan, could not defend the N52 billion budgeted for the recruitment of 774,000 Nigerians under the NDE.
The minister said his ministry was asked to supervise the recruitments by the President Muhammadu Buhari. But the federal lawmakers disagreed with Keyamo.
Keyamo was asked by the lawmakers to explain the modalities he had adopted to carry out the recruitment process and why he was not carrying the NDE along.
Keyamo said the Director-General of the NDE, Mr. Nasiru Ladan, is a member of the committee but when asked to defend himself, the NDE boss, said the Minister was in a better position to answer all questions relating to the N52 billion budgeted for the recruitment of 774,000 Nigerians.
The lawmakers called for a closed session to resolve their differences but Keyamo insisted that journalists must witness the proceeding.
The legislators accused Kayamo of trying to dictate proceedings to them and demanded an apology.
The refusal by Keyamo to apologise led to another round of shouting match that lasted 30 minutes.
Keyamo left the investigative hearing and told journalists that the grouse of the lawmakers was because he didn’t allow them to own the process.
But in a swift reaction, the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, Mr. Godiya Akwashiki, denied the allegations levelled against them by Keyamo
Rather, he accused Keyamo of allegedly trying to build a political structure of 1, 000 youths in each of the 774 Local Government Areas across the country with the 774,000 jobs.
Yetunde Adegoke
