The Federal Government has disclosed that it has begun partial payment of the N20,000 monthly stipend to beneficiaries of the 774,000 Special Public Works programme.
This came after media reports last week that the worker were yet to received their stipends after the commencement of the programme
Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), who made the disclosure in a statement he issued Sunday, noted that the delay in payment was caused by the mismatch of Bank Verification Numbers and other details supplied by the beneficiaries.
“After the release of some of the funds by the Ministry of Finance for the payment of SPW stipends, I directed rigorous scrutiny of the accounts of the participants before payment.
“We discovered instances of accounts not matching BVNs, multiple accounts bearing a single BVN, non-existent BVNs, etc.
“Because of our determination to eliminate fraud, I further directed the NDE to write to the banks to clean up these anomalies before commencing payments.
“So far, only Access Bank has responded with accounts verified for payment and the NDE has today commenced payment of those accounts with Access Bank.”
Keyamo restated the Federal government’s determination to ensure that those selected for the programme get paid and that it does not spiral into a vehicle for fraud.
