774,000 SPW Jobs: Participants bemoan persistent payment delay, allege fund deliberately fix-deposited

The Participants of the Federal Government Special Public Works Programme have decried the persistent delay in effecting the payment of their Stipends, alleging that the delay was premeditated to earn more interests from the fund earmarked for the Programme.

According to a beneficiary in Jigawa State, Yazeed Abdullahi, the Banks have failed to complete the first payment to the Participants, about two months after the end of the Programme.

The Programme which engaged 774,000 Nigerians across the Federation (1,000 per LGA) for 3 months, as part of the President Mohammadu Buhari's palliative measures to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable Nigerians, commenced on 5th January, 2021.

John Okeke, a participant in Enugu noted that he had received his first Payment in May but the second payment has not been paid till date.

The Minister for State, Labour and Employment Mr Festus Keyamo, in statement contained in The Nation, https://thenationonlineng.net/fed-govt-to-begin-second-tranche-of-payment-to-774000-spw-participants, in May, announced that the Federal Government has concluded plans to commence a second payment to the beneficiaries, however, many participants are yet to recieve the second trench of the payment. 

Announcing the plan,  Keyamo admitted that some workers under the programme were having issues about their first payments from two banks, adding that until the Bank Verification Number (BVN) of those participants were verified, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) would not credit those accounts.

Keyamo while encouraging the participants not to panic however noted that the second payment would commence when the first payment must have been paid to all the Participants.  

“Those who have not received payments from two banks will be paid in due time. Until the two banks fulfill the mandate we gave them to ensure the credibility of the accounts and to make sure we eliminate fraud; until that is approved by us, the CBN will not credit those accounts.

“We want to appeal to everyone, especially those who have not received their first tranche from those two banks, that they will be paid, and everybody will be duly paid before the second tranche begins. And the second tranche will begin soon.

“We don’t want to make errors in haste, especially for me. This is a programme put under my care by Mr. President. I want to make sure that it is fraud-free. That is why I am ensuring that all indices of fraud are eliminated in those accounts before they are credited,” he stated.