The Special Public Works Programme In FCT has been allegedly marred with widespread fraud, prompting the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment to commence an investigation into the matter.
The investigation commenced after the ministry received petitions and complaints indicating that the Extended Special Public Works Programme introduced by the federal government to provide jobs for 774,000 youths had been hijacked by some persons to favour their children or wards.
According to reports received by the ministry, beneficiaries of the programme were selected by a committee headed by Alhaji Abdullahi Danladi Galadima, an All Progressives Congress [APC] member and a former Chairman of Kuje Area Council.
The complaints also note that distribution of forms for the programme by the Galadima headed committee was lopsided, noting that majority of the beneficiaries were members of the ruling APC and indigenes who were already engaged in other government employment programmes.
In some of the area councils, such as Kwali and Gwagwalada, youths allegedly duplicated the forms for their relations, a development which increased the number of application forms submitted to the committee beyond 1000 at the affected area council.
Reacting to the allegations in an interview with newsmen, the Chairman of FCT Committee on Special Public Works Employment Scheme, Alhaji Abdullahi Danladi Galadima, said there was no iota of favouritism in the distribution of the forms and selection process, adding that critics should be wary of their utterances as God will judge people accordingly on the last day.
Mr Galadima who insisted that the committee was fair and strict in implementing a sharing formula that covered every segment of the society, added that members of the FCT 20-member committee were selected from different interest groups such as politicians, traditional and religious leaders, market associations and youth council leaders.
He further noted that the implementation committee acted according to directives, stressing that: “All I was asked to do was to share the forms and also to provide FCT top government official stakeholders who comprise the minister, the minister of state, National Assembly members and chairmen among others with forms on the basis of special consideration for their wards.
“Anybody who accuses the committee of partiality is either deliberately being economical with the truth or the person does not know what to say. I have no right to tamper with the number of forms or to change the allocation formula we.
All I know is that I have successfully submitted the forms for 1000 people in each area council. There was no partiality.”
He therefore called on the Federal Government to increase the employment allocation quota for each local government from 1000 to 2000, explaining that many unemployed youths need jobs.
