By KEHINDE AKINPELU, ILORIN
The Federal Government Special Public Works (SPW) programmme has been officially launched in Kwara State.
The programme was officially flagged off at the Conference Hall of the Federal Secretariat, Fate Road, Ilorin.
Dignitaries present at the event include the Executive Governor of Kwara State, Mallam AbdulRahaman AbdulRasaq, who was competently represented by Alhaji AbdulRasaq Jiddah and Princess Adebukola R. Babalola, the acting Chief of Staff to the Executive Governor of Kwara State; the acting Director General of the NDE, Mallam Abubakar Nuhu Fikpo; royal fathers; Senior NDE directors, members of the State Selection Committee, selected SPW beneficiaries, and other stakeholders.
The programme is designed to employ 1,000 Nigerians from each of the 774,000 local government areas under the Special Public Works (SPW) programme.
Each of the 774,000 beneficiaries will earn N20,000 monthly for three months. One thousand persons per Local Government Area (LGA) have been selected in each of the 16 LGAs in Kwara State.
Majority of them have been registered and captured by designated banks in an ongoing physical verification exercise.
In his speech, the acting DG of NDE, Mallam Fikpo stated: “This programme is a very significant step in Nigeria’s quest to win the war against mass unemployment as well as to ameliorate the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.
As the apex job creation agency of the Federal Government of Nigeria, the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) in the last three decades, has remained in the fore front in the fight against poverty and joblessness.
“Today, therefore, marks the actualization of the single most far-reaching grassroot-based employment creation initiative in the history of our great nation. I want to place on record our immense gratitude to President Muhammadu Buhari (GCFR), for the confidence His Excellency has in entrusting the implementation of such epochal project to the NDE.”
According to reports, the beneficiaries across the 16 LGAs will be assigned roles in their LGAs by the NDE to provide services critical to the rehabilitation and maintenance of public infrastructure within various communities for the three months.
The Extended Special Public Works (SPW) programme has been designed as a veritable tool through which the lives of 774,000 unemployed Nigerians will be positively touched in the next three months.
