The national assembly yesterday passed a resolution suspending the implementation of the recruitment of 774,000 public works personnel supervised by the ministry of labour and employment.
The action was sequel to the verbal brawl on Tuesday between the lawmakers and the minister of state for labour and employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo.
At yesterday’s executive session, the senate debated the Tuesday clash between the national assembly joint committee on labour Keyamo, during which the lawmakers expressed anger about what they described as a display of executive rascality.
Consequently, the Senate announced that the two chambers of the national assembly had ordered that the implementation of the 774,000 public works programme should be put on hold until the legislature is properly briefed.
Rising from the emergency executive session, the Senate also announced that the two chambers of the national assembly had reached the conclusion to ensure that there is transparency in the entire recruitment process.
Addressing the media after the executive session, senate spokesman, Mr. Ajibola Basiru, advised the presidency to approach the court if it feels its powers are being encroached upon by the legislature.
“If the president sees that his powers are being encroached upon, he can approach the court of law. What we are saying is this – this project the way you are looking at it, it is as if it is an exclusively presidential project,” he said.
He explained that the conception of the programme was not exclusive to the presidency.
He said the programme’s conception, approval and funding are with the considered input of the national assembly because it believes it’s going to be beneficial for the purpose of addressing the challenges of COVID-19.
“On your perspective on encroaching on the powers of the president, there is no exclusivity in terms of any programme that is to be implemented, except the national assembly is not part of government. Government, as defined by the 1999 Constitution, has three components: legislative powers as stipulated in Section 4; executive powers Section 5 and the judicial power in Section 6.
“It is the totality of these that constitute government. So, when you are saying the government is doing a programme, it is not President Muhammadu Buhari that is doing the programme; it is the government of the people. Implementation, appropriation and execution all rolled into one. There is no dichotomy such as encroaching on the powers of the president.
“Assuming the national assembly is opposed to the programme, we could not have approved it. You cannot appropriate, but we want to be sure that names don’t just fly.
“The two chambers of the National Assembly asked the federal government to halt the programme until the implementation modalities are explained to the legislative arm.”
Also in a joint statement signed by Basiru and his counterpart in the House of Representatives, Mr. Benjamin Kalu, the lawmakers said the suspension of the scheme was necessitated because the legislators were concerned about the proper and effective implementation of the scheme.
“The national assembly reminds members of the public that the legislature as part of the conception of the programme approved it and appropriated funds for its implementation as part of the COVID-19 response strategy.
“In accordance with the constitutional imperative of oversight, the legislature being important stakeholders in the democratic process, and elected representatives of the people needed to be appraised of modalities for implementation for effective feedback to our constituents and in ensuring that our constituents optimally participate in and benefit from the process.
“In view of the foregoing, the implementation of the programme shall be on hold pending proper briefing of the national assembly,” read the statement in part.
The lawmakers contended that the totality of the three arms is what constitutes government and it cannot be left to the whims of a person or a branch of a government.
“When the government is doing a programme, it is not President Buhari that is doing the programme, it is the government of the people. We are asking about how these 1000 people per local government area are generated, who set up the selection committee, what are the modalities for recruitment?”
Meanwhile, the speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila said he would wade into the face-off between the legislators and Keyamo.
He stated this when he appeared at the public accounts committee’s public hearing at the National Assembly complex Abuja.
It would be recalled that the lawmakers had invited Keyamo to give details of the Special Public Works Programme in which 774,000 unemployed youths would be recruited by the federal government under the National Directorate of Employment (NDE).
During the hearing, the committee sought to find out the method of selection of a 20-man panel from each state and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja for the programme.
However, a heated argument erupted between the lawmakers on the one side and the minister on the other over who should be in charge of the programme.
