Lawmakers in the two arms of the National Assembly, Senate and House of Representatives, insisted, yesterday, that the Special Works Programme designed to create 774,000 jobs for Nigerians remained suspended.


The lawmakers, who were visibly angry at President Muhammadu Buhari’s directive to the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, to go ahead with the programme, warned that there would be consequences if the president failed to reverse his position.


Rising from a closed door session on the matter, yesterday, senators did not only insist that the programme must remain suspended but also asked the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to meet with the President yesterday or today and report back to them on Tuesday.

Vanguard gathered that the decision for Lawan to meet with the President was to express their grievances to him.

The executive session, which lasted for almost two hours, started at 10.55am and ended at about 12.30.


A source told Vanguard that tempers were high during the meeting, with the senators lamenting that after they had asked the executive to suspend the planned employment of Nigerians in the Special Public Works Programme 2020, President Buhari went ahead to instruct Keyamo to go ahead with the process.

The source said the senators saw this as a slap and asked the Senate President to remind President Buhari that the only way both arms of government could be on the same page was for him (President) to respect resolutions of the Senate.


The source said: “At the closed door session, we resolved as senators that the President of the Senate should meet with President Muhammadu Buhari today (yesterday) or tomorrow (today) and report back to us.



‘’He was asked to tell the President that we are not happy with his idea of rubbishing our decision and to let him know of the consequences.



‘’We were asked not to speak with any journalist in order not to overheat the polity. We will wait for the President of the Senate on Tuesday.”


Reps kick

Although the House of Representatives has not responded as an institution, some members who spoke with Vanguard insisted that the programme remains suspended.

Speaking on the matter, the member representing Ethiope Federal Constituency, Delta State, Ben Igbakpa, said his position was that of the parliament.


He said: “The truth is that as long as the National Assembly is the one appropriating for that project, I think it is very wrong to consider ignoring them because there are other measures the House can take to push its position.

‘’Until the modalities are sorted out, the programme remains suspended. I think that is the position of the National Assembly.”

Reacting in a similar vein, Solomon Marem, representing Mangu/Bokkos federal constituency of Plateau State, said the House has not lifted the suspension on the programme.

He said: “For now, they can go ahead if they want but we will see how it will go because it is within our responsibility to carry out oversight functions; it is through that we can expose corruption, inefficiency and waste in the system.

On his part, Ben Kalu, who represents Bende federal constituency of Abia State and doubles as spokesman of the House, refused to comment, saying: “No comment until we have official details on it from a credible source.”

NBA, Agbakoba, others react

Reacting to the issue, NBA National Publicity Secretary, Kunle Edun said: “There should be no basis for any misunderstanding between the legislative and the executive arms of government regarding the 774,000 menial jobs to be created.

‘’The National Assembly has already voted funds for the scheme and has a constitutional oversight function to ensure that the funds voted for the scheme are used for the purpose intended and for the benefits of Nigerians.

“It is the duty of the executive arm to decide on the best way to execute the scheme. I don’t think it can share that responsibility with the National Assembly. The intervention of the National Assembly at this stage, though may be for a good purpose but it seems too early. The programme has not taken off and I am not aware if there is any complaint of mismanagement of the funds or abuse of the scheme.”

Former President of Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, said it was not the business of the legislature to execute job proposals.

He said: “It’s no business of the legislature to execute job proposal as this is an executive function and to assume power to do so is a naked usurpation of executive function.”

On his part, former Vice President of NBA, Monday Ubani, said: ‘’My position is that it is the prerogative of the executive to formulate and executive policies of government, while the legislature plays an oversight functions.

‘’A situation where the legislature is now trying to determine how policies of government are executed is very dangerous and unfortunate. The President is very right in giving Keyamo the go ahead to execute the progamme meant to create employment for the poor.’’

Also, Gbenga Ojo, Senior Lecturer, Law Faculty, LASU, said: “Executive should execute the programme. It is overbearing by legislative arm of government in Nigeria. Keyamo is right and to serve as precedent to other executive bodies not to surrender their functions to the legislature.”