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From Fred Itua, Abuja
The Senate, through its Public Account Committee, has launched an investigation into the Public Works Programme of President Muhammadu Buhari-led Federal Government, coordinated by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in which 774,000 Nigerians were recruited with a mandate of 1,000 persons per Local Government.
Government earnmarked N52 billion for the project in 2020 in which 774,000 Nigerians were paid N20,000 each for three months. However, at the Committee sitting of Senate Public Account Committee, lawmakers gave the NDE two weeks to submit a comprehensive report of the beneficiaries of the scheme in 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).
The Committee investigating the expenditure of Service Wide Votes (SWV), said it discovered that NDE collected N26 billion for the scheme in 2020.
However, drama ensued at the Committee meeting, as all seven senators that were present at the said that non of the constituent members benefited from the scheme.
Thompson Sekibo said that there is nobody who benefited from his Senatorial district from the programme that all names submitted by lawmakers who represent he people were not considered .
Also, Michael Nnachi said not a single person benefited from his Senatorial district, adding that the NDE should make available beneficiaries from his Senatorial district.
The Committee members unanimously agreed that the NDE should submit names, phones number, accounts detail of the 1,000 of beneficiaries in each 774 LGAs within one week.
