SPW : Buhari approves payment of stipends to 774,000 participants

The federal government has announced moves for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the ongoing Special Public Works Programme across the country.

Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo (SAN), said on Saturday that President Muhammadu Buhari has given approval for the payment.

The minister announced this in a message he posted on his Twitter handle, @fkeyamo.

2. In order to eliminate fraud and/or double payments, I have also directed that every payment to participants should be made using the BVN of their accounts so we can have an audit trail of every single payment. Those who registered with different names shouldn’t expect payments

— Festus Keyamo, SAN (@fkeyamo) March 20, 2021

Recall that the programme designed to engage 774,000 unemployed Nigerians started nationwide on January 5, 2020, after several postponements.

While N52bn was appropriated for the scheme, each of the 774,000 workers is expected to earn N20,000 monthly for the three-month duration of the job, amounting to about N46.44bn.

Keyamo said he had directed the National Directorate of Employment to begin processing the payments.

He assured the participants that they will soon receive alerts.

The minister wrote, “President Muhammadu Buhari has graciously directed a release of the funds for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the SPW programme.