774,000 Jobs: FG To Pay Participants 73 Days After Programme Flag-Off

President Muhammadu Buhari has ordered the release of funds for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the ongoing Special Public Works Programme after 73 days of kick-off across different states.

The disclosure was made in a tweet by Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo.

Although the amount approved for disbursement was not mentioned, the programme is expected to cost the Federal Government N52bn.

Keyamo said, “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.

“I have consequently directed the NDE to begin processing the payments and participants should begin to receive payments soon.”

The programme which kicked off January 5, 2021 has N20,000 set aside as monthly stipend for the 774,000 participants.

This translates to N15.48bn monthly and N46.4bn over the three months which it is expected to last.

Keyamo said for a transparent payment process, the payments would be done through Bank Verification Numbers.

“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.

Consequently, the minister warned that participants who “registered with different names should not expect payments.”