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Keyamo, NASS Face off Over 774,000 Jobs

A dangerous but avoidable brawl is brewing between the Executive and the National Assembly following recent public altercation involving the Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, and National Assembly Joint Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity over the recruitment of 774,000 unemployed youths for public works by the ministry.
KEYAMO last Tuesday had a hot verbal exchange with the lawmakers over the job recruitment by the National Directorate of Employment, NDE, approved by President Muhammadu Buhari. By the arrangement, 1, 000 Nigerians, who will earn N20, 000 each on a monthly basis for three months, are expected to be recruited in each of the 774 local government areas of the country starting from October this year to cushion the effect of Covid-19 pandemic.
THE outbursts by both parties led to the abrupt end of the interactive session resulting in an unceremonious exit of the minister from the Senate Committee room, venue of the meeting. Both parties had after the meeting addressed the press with each claiming its powers to direct and be involved in the process. While the National Assembly insists it must be involved in the recruitment process, the minister said the lawmakers have no such powers in the constitution.
SADLY, the National Assembly had ordered the suspension of the exercise while Keyamo had vowed his ministry would proceed with the recruitment. Spokesperson for the Senate, Dr Ajibola Basiru, and his counterpart for the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, who announced the suspension, said President Buhari could challenge the decision in court if not satisfied.
THE lawmakers also hinged their decision on the fact that the programme did not exclusively belong to the President. They said it was jointly conceived by the executive and the legislature. Insisting that they could not be kept in the dark over its implementation. The chairman of the committee, Godiya Akwasiki, explained that the assembly has a duty to check the appropriation act that allows for spending and the allocated money that should be spent by the National Directorate of Employment under the ministry. The lawmakers further criticised Keyamo for allegedly engaging in a lopsided recruitment without the active involvement of the NDE, the agency that got N52bn approval from the National Assembly to implement the programme.
ON his part, Keyamo accused the lawmakers of attempting to hijack the entire recruitment process. He disclosed that 15 per cent of the jobs (116,100) have already been allocated to lawmakers .and that they were still not satisfied with what they were given.. He also said the lawmakers pressurised him to submit the names of those involved in the recruitment process. This is not the first time federal lawmakers have been accused of taking job slots from several agencies like the Federal Inland Revenue Service, National Drug Law Enforcement Agency and National Open University – to share or sell to their constituents. In 2019, some lawmakers had threatened to cause trouble over the sharing formula of the employment slots given to them by a federal agency. Recently, the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, denied reports that about 500 slots were allocated to federal lawmakers and politicians across the country by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs
REGARDLESS of the reasons for the stance of each party, The Hope strongly believes that this crisis could have been avoided if both parties have obeyed the rules of effective communication. That Mr Keyamo raised his voice at the elected lawmakers is unbecoming of his status as a minister and shows immaturity on his part, an action the lawmakers have termed a display of executive rascality. He should know that being an activist and a Minister of the Federal Republic come with different roles. However, the legislators’ decision to order the minister out of the meeting and subsequently suspending the recruitment exercise is like throwing away the baby and the bath water. The implication of such embargo, if enforced, is an attempt at truncating government efforts at lessening the burden of unemployed Nigerians who are constantly wallowing in abject poverty.
BESIDES, members of the National Assembly must note that, in line with the doctrine of separation of powers in a presidential system, the constitutional role of the legislature is rule making while that of the executive is rule implementation. Thus, the prerogative of the modalities for any recruitment exercise lies with the relevant government ministry or agency.
WE therefore call on both parties to find a way of resolving the issue to pave the way for the smooth process of the exercise. If and when finally resolved, THE HOPE enjoins the ministry to be transparent in the process and avoid anything that will truncate the expectations of millions of unemployed youths who are the potential beneficiaries of the scheme.

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