By Emmanuel Okogba

The Federal Government, Sunday, said it has begun partial payment of the N20,000 monthly stipend to beneficiaries of the 774,000 Special Public Works programme.

Minister of State, Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo (SAN), made the disclosure in a statement to clarify the Federal Government’s position in relation to delay in payment of stipends to the workers.

Aggrieved workers had frowned at the delay in payment of their stipends which the government attributed to the mismatch of Bank Verification Numbers and other details supplied by the beneficiaries.

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Keyamo’s statement reads 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 restated the Federal government’s determination to ensure that those selected for the programme get paid and that it does not spiral into a vehicle for fraud.

Vanguard News Nigeria