774,000 jobs: FG to begin second tranche payment to beneficiaries, says Keyamo

The federal government says the second tranche of payment to beneficiaries of its special public works (SPW) programme beneficiaries will begin soon.

On April 17, 2021, the federal government started the partial payment to beneficiaries of the programme.

Festus Keyamo, minister of state for labour and employment, ordered a scrutiny of participants’ accounts before payments.

He said this led to the discovery of some accounts not matching bank verification number (BVNs), multiple accounts bearing a single BVN, non-existent BVNs.

Keyamo further explained that in a bid to eliminate fraud, directives were given to commercial banks to investigate the issue before commencing payments.

He said the National Directorates of Employment (NDE) started payments in April to accounts with Access Bank as it was the only institution that responded with accounts verified for payments.

Keyamo confirmed the payment via his twitter handle said some workers under the programme were having issues about their payments from two banks, which he did not mention.

“Those who have not received payments from two banks will be paid in due time. Until the two banks fulfill the mandate we gave them to ensure the credibility of the accounts and to make sure we eliminate fraud; until that is approved by us, the CBN will not credit those accounts,” he said.

“We want to appeal to everyone, especially those who have not received their first tranche from those two banks, that they will be paid, and everybody will be duly paid before the second tranche begins. And the second tranche will begin soon.

“We don’t want to make errors in haste, especially for me. This is a programme put under my care by Mr. President. I want to make sure that it is fraud-free. That is why I am ensuring that all indices of fraud are eliminated in those accounts before they are credited.”

The SPW is a federal government initiative that kicked off in April 2020 as part of the fiscal stimulus measures in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to engage 774,000 unemployed youth in a short-term employment programme across Nigeria.

In March 2021, Keyamo said Muhammadu Buhari had ordered the release of funds for payment of the 774,000 beneficiaries of the SPW programme.