Minister of Employment, Labour and Productivity, Chris Ngige, on Tuesday, apologised to the National Assembly over a clash between his deputy, Festus Keyamo, and a joint committee of the National Assembly with oversight functions on the ministry.
Ngige tendered the apology when he paid a courtesy visit to Senate President Ahmad Lawan in Abuja.
Keyamo was accompanied by other top officials of the ministry.
Lawan insisted that all previous actions already taken on the programme by Mr Keyamo are “null and void”.
Keyamo had disagreed with the joint committee on the processes and modalities for implementing the Special Public Works programme of the Federal Government meant to hire 774,000 youths across Nigeria.
The beneficiaries are expected to be paid N20,000 per month from October to December 2020.
Ngige, however, said the process of recruiting the 774,000 persons for the programme must start afresh, adding that the National Assembly has the right to demand to know the processes and modalities for implementing the programme.
Keyamo had alleged that the lawmakers were making attempts to hijack the programme.
