House of Representatives Minority Caucus has said the 30 slots allocated to each member of the House from the available 1,000 jobs per local government was “grossly unfair” and unacceptable to federal lawmakers.
The 774,000 jobs for which N52 billion was appropriated for in the N10.8 trillion revised 2020 budget has been a source of controversy between the Ministry of Labour and Employment and lawmakers.
There have been back-and-forth allegations over plans to hijack the employment scheme as both the executive arm and lawmakers continue to point accusing fingers at each other.
Minority Leader, Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta), while rejecting the 30 job slots allotted to lawmakers, said the 774,000 jobs were meant for the masses, adding that Nigerians look up to lawmakers as major channels for social and economic empowerment. He said the situation makes the 30 slots out of the 1,000 per local government inadequate.
Elumelu called for more transparency and review of the criteria being used for the allotment. He also alleged that the criteria for the implementation only favoured certain interests in the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
According to him: “The 30 persons allotment per local government for lawmakers is grossly unfair, inadequate and unacceptable to Nigerians.
“As the representatives of the people, we are closer to them and they directly interact with us, irrespective of religion, class and political affiliations.
“All Nigerians living in our constituencies are our constituents, irrespective of political leanings. We have a responsibility to protect their interests at all times. As such lawmakers ought to have been carried along on the allotment.
“Moreover, the questions are, what criteria is being used in the job allotments? Given the 30 persons out of the 1000 per local government area allotted to federal lawmakers, what happens to the remaining 970? What answers do we give Nigerians?
“How do we ensure that the program benefited Nigerians and not enmeshed in allegations of sharp practices as witnessed in the COVID-19 palliative distribution?”
