NDE commences partial payment of SPW stipends.

National Directorate of Employment has commenced partial payment of the N20,000 monthly stipend to the 774,000 beneficiaries of the Special Public Works program.

The Minister of State, Labour, and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), disclosed this in a statement in Abuja on Sunday.

The statement was titled, ‘NDE commences partial payment of SPW stipends.’

It read in part,  “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 said  the determination of the government to ensure that those selected for the program get paid “to assist them in these tough times is also matched by our determination to ensure that the program does not spiral into a vehicle for fraud; not under the watch of Mr. President; not under my watch.”