Northern Youth Council Of Nigeria, Arewa Youth Assembly Blasts NASS Over Suspension of 774,000 Recruitment Exercise

Northern Youth Council Of Nigeria and Arewa Youth Assembly has condemned in its strongest terms the suspension of the 774,000 job recruitment exercise by the National Assembly.

The President, Northern Youth Council Of Nigeria, Isah Abubakar, and the Speaker, Arewa Youth Assembly, Mohammed Salihu Danlami Made this known to AFRICA SECURITY INVESTIGATION on Thursday 2 July, 2020, stating that the suspension of the recruitment exercise Is demonic and as such should be reverted with an immediate effect.

“The suspension of Nigeria-peanut job of N20,000 Naira for 3 months by National Assembly is unacceptable by all meaningful Nigerians and will not tolerate an arrangement between Ahmed Lawal the Senate President and Femi Bajabiamila, the Speaker, House of Representative to sabotage the effort of Mr. President.

Both bodies described the Ahmed Lawal led Senate and the Femi Bajabiamila led House of Representatives as a shame and a National disgrace rooted in selfishness and self-centeredness in conjunction with unethical conduct against humanity.

Stressing that with the jumbo salary package of the National Assembly, they still set their ego on what will benefit the common man.
“This is greed in its highest order. We are aware of the high level of poverty that many feared to escalate to insecurity amid COVID-19 pandemic and yet can stop such an initiative to cushion the effect on Nigerians who voted them in. What a misplaced priority”.

Speaking further, “It has been on record that no single recruitment process has been done in this country without giving the entire National Assembly slots for their direct family members or close associates, as such, hence, this attitude must be faulted. We are also aware of how the CBN COVID-19 support loan has been hijacked by the same people, and also, the N-Power program is not left out of their nefarious modus-vivendi.

“It’s unfortunate that the common man has no single ride to opportunities again. President Buhari must rise to the occasion of profounding solution to this continuing challenge faced by the less privileged Nigerians. It’s obvious that you cannot take insecurities from unemployment, the National Assembly must help Mr. President to set up a more transparent system that will help the son of nobody in becoming somebody”, they added.

The National Assembly on Wednesday, 1 July, 2020 announced the suspension of the Special Public Works programme under the National Directorate of Employment to cushion the effect of COVID-19 pandemic.

The President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, had approved the engagement of 774, 000 Nigerians under the scheme.

By the arrangement, 1, 000 Nigerians who would earn N20,000 each on a monthly basis for three months are expected to be recruited in each of the 774 local government areas, of the country.

The programme was expected to take off in October this year.

But the nation’s parliament on Wednesday said the programme has been suspended following the disagreement between it and the Minister of State for Employment, Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo, on Tuesday.

The spokesperson for the Senate, Ajibola Basiru, who announced the suspension of the programme at a press conference in Abuja, said the National Assembly has summoned the Minister in charge of the Ministry to appear before the federal legislature, to explain the recruitment modalities.

According to a Press Release by the Honourable Minister Of State, Labour And Employment, Mr. Festus Keyamo, San, Fciarb on (Uk)- June 30, 2020.

He said, he was invited by the appropriate committee of the National Assembly on the 30 June 2020, which he honoured.

“in obedience to their invitation, I appeared before the Joint Committees on Labour of both the Senate and the House. The Distinguished Senators and Honourable Members sought to be briefed on the implementation of the Special Public Works Programme so far.

“However, there was a misunderstanding between us when they questioned why I did not privately submit the program to them for vetting before taking certain steps. They suggested that they ought to have an input on how the programme should be implemented. In other words, they sought to control the programme as to who gets what, where and how.

“However, I insisted that I could not surrender the programme to their control since their powers under the constitution does not extend to that. They insisted on a closed-door session.

“At this point, I remarked that it was only fair for me to respond to their position before the press, since their own position was also made public. In any case, I remarked that the Nigerian people deserve to know the details of the execution of this all-important programme.

“I was then asked to apologize for insisting on a public interaction and I said there was nothing to apologize about, because their powers to expose corruption provided for in section 88 of the Constitution cannot be exercised in private. As such, there was no need to apologize by insisting on a Constitutional provision. Even their Rules that may provide for private hearings on public matters cannot override the provisions of the Constitution. I was then permitted to leave. I took a bow and left. I NEVER walked out on the respected Committees as they may want to bend the narrative.

“After I left, I understand that the Joint Committees purportedly suspended the work of the Selection Committees nationwide until they decide how the programme should be run and who should be in those Committees. My opinion is that it is tantamount to challenging the powers of Mr. President.

“I regret to say that their powers under section 88 of the 1999 Constitution are only limited to investigations, but NOT TO GIVE ANY DIRECTIVE TO THE EXECUTIVE.

“A Committee or Committees of both Houses do not even have powers to pass binding Resolutions. They can only make recommendations to Plenary. In this case, even Plenary CANNOT give DIRECTIVES to the Executive.

“All my life, I have fought for good governance and constitutional democracy. I will not come into government and be intimidated to abandon those principles. I will rather leave this assignment if Mr. President so directs than compromise the jobs meant for ordinary Nigerians who have no Godfathers or who are not affiliated to any political party”, he said.