774,000 Jobs: Why Keyamo and Senators engaged in fierce argument
Minister of State for Labour, Employment and Productivity, Festus Keyamo (SAN), was engaged in a heated argument with Senators on Tuesday over disagreement on the recruitment process for 774,000 Nigerians.
The minister and Director General of the National Directorate of Employment (NDE), Nasiru Argungu, had appeared before the Senate for the investigative hearing on the proposed recruitment.
During the hearing, the lawmakers had accused Keyamo of hijacking the programme from the NDE when they were not satisfied with Argungu’s explanation.
When the lawmakers asked journalists to leave the hall for a closed-door session with Keyamo, the minister rejected the move and said he would not speak without the cameras since he had been openly accused before the cameras.
When the lawmakers and the minister could not agree after he was asked to apologise for raising his voice against them, Keyamo took a bow and left the hall.
A similar scenario played out at the House of Representatives in February 2020 when the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Sadiya Farouq, was grilled by the Committee on SDG over alleged non-payment of monthly stipends to N-power beneficiaries. Although Farouk didn’t engage the lawmakers in a heated argument like Keyamo, when she was getting agitated by the exchange of words, she told the lawmakers to direct their questions to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry.
In Keyamo’s case, his experience as an activist and human rights lawyer may have influenced his confrontation with the lawmakers as he refused to tender an apology, insisting he had done nothing wrong. The Minister also claimed the lawmakers are trying to hijack the recruitment under his ministry.
