By TIMILEYIN OMILANA

Nigerian Senate is currently in an emergency closed-door session over the decision of the federal government to proceed with the recruitment of the 774, 000 workers across the country.

The lawmakers had ordered the suspension of the recruitment following a disagreement between the Committee on Labour and the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Kayamo during his presentation in June.

The committee accused Keyamo of hijacking the recruitment exercise from the National Directorate of Employment, which got N52bn approval to carry out the programme.

But Kayamo earlier on Tuesday said that President Muhammadu Buhari has permitted him to proceed with the recruitment process as against the Senate’s order.

“The Special Public Works Programme of the Federal Government has kicked off nationwide. The State Selection Committees have been inaugurated and have commenced work,” the federal government tweeted on Tuesday.

The recruitment, under the Special Public Works Programme, is aimed at employing 774,000 citizens, a thousand from each of the 774 local government areas in the country.

Keyamo accused the lawmakers of wanting to sabotage the recruitment process despite receiving 15 per cent jobs slots.

He said the controversy surrounding the programme is an attempt by the National Assembly to bypass him in the implementation of the project. (The Guardian)