Keyamo 774,000 Public Works Are ATM’s To Siphon Money From Treasury- Hon. Chinda

By ABIODUN JIMOH

Leader, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Caucus at the House of Representatives, Hon. Kingsley O. Chinda has described the Minister of State for Labour, Festus Keyamo 774,000 public works as ATM’s directed at siphoning money from the treasury, akin to the school feeding programme of pupils at home.

Hon. Chinda noted that the beneficiaries of the programme are to earn N20,000 for three months totalling N60,000.00 and N58billion has been voted for these phantom jobs.

He stated this in statement made available to Daily Dispatch on Abuja while reacting to various happenings between the Executive arm and the National Assembly in the recent.

He hinted: “How else can we explain a non-sustainable scheme, with no end value, that has no multiplier effect on local economies across the length and breadth of our country. What is N20,000, a sum far below the minimum national wage, when inflation is galloping at 12.56% and nearing 15.18% for food prices alone.

“Keyamo is clearly running the public works’ job, built on effusive sound bites, with the intention to fleece our country.

“774,000 jobs are simply installed 774,000 ATMs in 774 LGAs. Only Keyamo and the insidious promoters of the scheme have the passwords to the individual ATMs. Pronto. Let us also remind the Learned SAN that it is unlawful to pay any Nigerian worker, emolument below the statutory minimum wage which his ministry ought to implement.”

Furthermore, he described the behaviours of appointees of the executive arm as mere smokescreens to create a diversion from high level of corruption of the executive arm.

He said: “It is too glaring that there is a deliberate and calculated blackmail by the Executive to ridicule the National Assembly and bring the parliament into public odium.

“The odious events of the past few weeks, chiefly orchestrated by unconscionable officials of the executive arm of government who continue to show disrespect for the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the ethos, notions and governance practices that shape constitutional democracy, underscore the blackmail.

“Three of several events of the past few weeks. On Thursday 16th July 2020, a Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Labour walked out on the House Committee on Diaspora unprovoked.

“Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour, who appeared before the Joint Ad-Hoc Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity walked out on the Committee over disagreement that arose between him and the Committee on two specific questions.

“What modalities the Ministry of Labour had put in place for the successful execution of the alleged Public Works’ employment scheme of the Ministry; (2) Why was the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) not mandated to oversee the said public works’ employment scheme, since it was within the statutory remit of the Directorate.

“Keyamo chose to walk out on the Committee. No matter how plausible his reasons are, a walkout on the parliament is unacceptable.

“A few days ago, the Acting Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Daniel Pondei, walked out on the Committee of the House of Representatives charged with the responsibility of investigating the financial scandal that has rocked the Commission. Again, regardless of his reasons, a walkout on the parliament is inexcusable.

“The three arms of government are empowered to work in sync, within the bounds of the basic law, and deliver on the responsibilities and mandates assigned to them by the Constitution. No one arm is superior to the other.

“However, the executive arm has gone about itself like the Leviathan, taking the legislature and judiciary prisoners. This should not be so in a constitutional democracy in which the constitution is held out as inviolate and inviolable. To hijack other arms of government, supplant them into obsequious rubber stamps arms, is to subvert the constitution.

“If the totalizing and unconscionable behaviours of members of the executive arm enhance governance in our country, our position here would have been made tenuous by the fact of the good governance that their misbehaviours enthrone; but it is not the case.

“There is something more sinister going on that the behaviour of Daniel Pondei seeks to mask. Never in the history of the NDDC has corruption reached the peak as it has today. According to revelations already in the media, N81bn was squandered alone between January-June, 2020, with an individual paid $1m from NDDC in what appears as forensic looting of the NDDC coffers.

“Yet, the Acting Managing Director of the NDDC rather than be sober and repentant, had the effrontery to walk out of the Committee charged to look at the books of the Commission. This is unacceptable.

“All these drama are moves to change the current narrative of bad, corrupt and inept governance and turn the attention of Nigerians away from the main issues of unpardonable deceit and deep rooted corruption that bedevil this government.

“This is a clarion call on the Leadership of NASS to take back its independence from the executive and desist from making such statements as “I will approve whatever GMB asks for’, ‘better to be a rubber stamp and get what we want’.

“The institution of the National Assembly, made up of its members, is higher and bigger than the members themselves; the institution of the National Assembly remains the symbol of democracy; and its independence should not be negotiated under any circumstance whatsoever.

‘We cannot as members of the PDP Caucus, watch from the sidelines as if nothing is happening when the tenets of democracy are being subverted and the constitution desecrated. The snub of the National Assembly by the executive and the unconscionable and obsequious behaviours of appointees of executive arm have to stop forthwith.

“Further, and in light of the foregoing, we give the executive four weeks to provide security to Nigerians and commence proper cleaning of the embarrassing and notorious corruption cases (EFCC and NDDC) or we shall revert to the relevant sections of the constitution and commence impeachment proceedings in the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians.

“Finally, we commend the growing activism and independence of the judiciary and urge it to reject acts of intimidation directed at judicial officers and uphold justice at all times.

“In particular, we commend the Chief Judge of Ondo State, Justice Olarewaju Akeredolu who, in rejecting the Ondo State’s House of Assembly’s request to set up a panel to impeach the Deputy Governor, showed uncommon courage in upholding the spirit and letter of the constitution.”