The Minister of State for Labour and Productivity, Mr Festus Keyamo, says over 400 thousand Nigerians have received N60,000 as part of the Special Public Works Programme launched in 2021 by the Federal Government.
Keyamo made this disclosure at the weekly Ministerial Media Chat at the Statehouse on Thursday.
Fielding questions from correspondents, Keyamo said the scheme which is aimed at empowering Nigerians and cushioning the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, has seen 413,630 persons paid N60,000 each.
According to him, some payments that have bounced back are owing to BVN challenges.
Keyamo said in total N24.817billion has been distributed to Nigerians so far, adding that an extension might be requested to meet a target of 500 thousand persons for the first phase of the program.
The minister stressed that the program has been conducted across the 774 local governments, however, he noted that government initiatives of this nature can regrettably be hijacked by political leaders at the state levels and for this reason, some resistance was encountered.
He asserted that President Buhari has and will continue to ensured transparency in all the Federal Government’s programmes.
