Keyamo Explains Refund of N400m Special Works Fund to Federation Account

•Declares before election, Peter Obi euphoria will die down

•Says APC’II make inroads into south-east

Emameh Gabriel in Abuja

The Minster of State, Labour and Productivity, Festus Keyamo has disclosed that his ministry refunded over N400 million from the fund budgeted by the federal government for special works under the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) designed to cushion effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the citizens.

Kayamo disclosed this in an exclusive interview with THISDAY, while giving account of President Muhammedu Bubari’s stewardship in the last seven years in power.

This was just as he boasted that his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) would make good inroads in the south-east in the 2023 presidential election going by its track records.

According to Keyamo, the refund was not just a testimonial of Buhari’s efforts to restore public confidence in governance, but also to establish a standard as against what was being practiced in the past.

“One thing I know the public would want me to talk about is the public works, which has to do with the 774,000 jobs and I am sure everybody is waiting to hear me talk about that.

“As I speak with you, we have executed the programme and we have reported back to the president. We have also evaluated those we paid and we achieved about 97 per cent to 98 per cent success. We paid everybody.

“In the payment schedule, I created a transparency system to the extent that the names of those who were paid, their local governments, their bank account numbers, their BVN numbers are all available for public scrutiny.

“I have asked the NDE to make it available for known journalists so that the public will come and dispute or interrogate.

“It’s one of the rear programmes under government and when we did that, the balance that was left, I wrote to Mr. President to permit me to refund the money to the federation account and the president permitted me and we refund the money to the federation account.

“In the past, you cannot run such programme in Nigeria without allegations of fraud. But I said no, no matter how poor you are, go and open a bank account”

“It is there. It is over N400 million that we returned to the federation account,” said Keyamo who sounded optimistic about the APC’s chances to win some south-east states in 2023.

According to the minister, before the election the Peter Obi Euphoria would have died naturally because of Buhari’s achievements in the region.

He said: “Frankly speaking, we have always had challenges in the south-east, agreed in 2015 and 2019. However, our popularity has been growing steadily since the 2019 general elections. Between 2019 and now, we have produced two governors in the south-east.

“All these are not happening by chance. These are happening because, many in the south-easterners are beginning to see that their leaders are misleading them. The facts on ground does not support the assertion that President Muhammadu Buhari or APC does not like the south-east.”

Keyamo said the president has done for the south-east, what no leader has since done since 1999.

“The Second Niger bridge has been on drawing board since 1999, it took Buhari to effect it. To demonstrate his commitment to the project, when he came onboard, he decided to remove the project from budget circle to Presidential Special Funds.

“Work is at advance stage and the president is determined to commission the project before May 29. Also, a section of the Enugu -Port Harcourt road has been completed and it’s in use. The thing is, some people decided to push false narrative against the Buhari’s government, which led them into violence.

“Lately, the agitation has reduced. One of their son, I mean, Peter Obi, is contesting for president. By and large, we believe, before the election, the Peter Obi euphoria will die down. We are working to keep our south-east supporters together. It is becoming clear that the facts favours the APC.”