Members of the House of Representatives under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) have rejected the slots allocated to them in the ongoing recruitment of 774,000 artisan youths for public works jobs, alleging that such quota is unfair and inadequate.
Governors, senators, House of Representatives members and ministers have been allocated slots to be filled from their constituencies. The average Nigerians will get the other slots after screening by the panels set up in each state.
The Minority Caucus in the House of Representatives, Minority Leader Ndudi Elumelu (PDP, Delta) said on Tuesday that allotting only 30 slots per local government to each member of the House from the 1000 jobs per local government, was unfair and unacceptable to the lawmakers and Nigerians.
He said: “The 30 persons allotment per local government for lawmakers is grossly unfair, inadequate and unacceptable to Nigerians. As the representatives of the people, we are closer to them and they directly interact with us, irrespective of religion, class and political affiliations.
“All Nigerians living in our constituencies are our constituents, irrespective of political leanings. We have a responsibility to protect their interests at all times. As such, lawmakers ought to have been carried along on the allotment.
“Moreover, the questions are, what criteria are being used in the job allotments? Given the 30 persons out of the 1000 per local government area allotted to federal lawmakers, what happens to the remaining 970? What answers do we give Nigerians? How do we ensure that the programme benefit Nigerians and not enmeshed in allegations of sharp practices as witnessed in the COVID-19 palliative distribution?
