The Senate on Monday was thrown into a rowdy session as some senators opposed further consideration of the screening of the ministerial nominee from Delta State, Festus Keyamo, over alleged disrespect and accusation of members of the 9th Assembly of being corrupt when he was a minister in the last administration.
This started when the senator representing Abia Central Senatorial District, Darlington Nwokocha, moved a motion for the suspension of the screening of a ministerial nominee.
Nwokocha had accused Keyamo of disrespecting the 9th National Assembly and accusing the last Assembly of being corrupt when there was a dispute between the ministerial nominee and the federal legislatures over the implementation of the Special Works Programme (SWP) of the then administration of former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Nwokocha’s motion was seconded by his colleague from Abia-South Senatorial District, Enyinnaya Abaribe.
Senate President, Godswill Akpabio thereafter subjected the motion to a voice vote but the lawmakers were divided on the matter.
The red chamber immediately erupted into a rowdy session. Amid heated argument between the lawmakers, Akpabio rose to his feet, announcing that the Senate will enter a closed session.
Refused to honour Senate invitation
Nwokocha said during the Buhari administration, Keyamo, who was the then Minister of State for Labour and Employment, was invited to explain a Special Public Works programme but he refused to honour the invitation.
The Special Public Works programme was coordinated by the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) which was directly under the supervision of Keyamo.
The Federal Government had in 2020 earmarked N52 billion for the programme to recruit 1,000 youths from each of the 774 local governments for three months and pay them N20,000 each.
There were, however, complaints over the programme as some constituents said they did not benefit from it.
The Senate Public Account Committee subsequently began a probe on the matter but Nwokocha claimed the then minister shunned the invitation by the committee, saying the Senate wanted to hijack the process.
Keyamo apologizes
However, Keyamo, after the executive closed session, apologized to the Senate over his perceived disregard for the 9th Assembly and failure to honour invitations by the relevant legislative committee overseeing the Ministry of Labour and Productivity where he had served as a minister.
He also explained that he had in the 9th Senate apologized to both the chairman Senate Committee on Labour, Employment and Productivity, Senator Godiya Akwashiki and his counterpart in the House of Representatives.
- Keyamo said, “I apologize to the Senate. I am sorry, I am sorry and I am sorry.”
- “Regarding that programme, the account was handled by the World Bank. So, we, the head of the agencies, never saw one kobo. We only generated the list and the money was paid directly to the people’s account.
- “Every detail of that account was captured and kept in a file. All the records of the beneficiaries and their data are in the ministry.”
