According to Newsfocusng, many of the employees recruited from throughout the country for the federal government’s 774,000 three-month employment that concluded in April were not paid.

According to our sources, the Extended Special Public Works (ESPW) program selected 1,000 persons from each of the 774 local government areas (LGAs) in 36 states.

Thousands of the chosen participants are yet to receive the monthly N20,000 promised to them, and some have only been paid for one month.

While some of those who applied for the job said they were never assigned to a job, others claimed they were short-changed throughout the one-month payment period and demanded that the federal government look into the matter.

President Muhammadu Buhari approved the three-month program last year to address challenges linked with a shortage of jobs in rural areas through a short-term engagement.

The participants were mostly drawn from a pool of untrained people in each of the 774 local government districts.

After the initiative was introduced amid pomp and grandeur and extensively publicized by the media, the beneficiaries were said to have performed civic duties such as street cleaning in exchange.

Participants were intended to save the N60,000 provided to them within three months, according to the public work’s planners, so that they might utilize it as seed money for other endeavors.

An investigation  revealed that many of the selected beneficiaries in the states who have completed the public works within the three months provided (February to April) are yet to be paid the N20,000 promised them.

In Borno State, some participants said they were paid for only one month.

Hajja Fanna from Gamboru in Ngala Local Government Area who was among the 27,000 unemployed youths said she was still waiting to collect her remaining N40,000.

Another beneficiary from Jere LGA, who would not want to be named, said he participated in the programme but still awaits his payments.

Mrs Mairo Aliyu, the Coordinator of the National Directorate of Employment in Borno, who is also the Secretary of the Borno State Selection Committee of the Extended Special Public Works Programme, said 1,000 unemployed youngsters were recruited from each of the state’s 27 local government areas.

She acknowledged that each participant was expected to receive a monthly payment of N20,000 from a chosen group of banks, and that despite the fact that the three-month program had ended, certain institutions were still processing payments owing to unforeseen circumstances.

An inquiry in Kaduna State revealed that many members had not received their payments months after the scheme was launched.

One of the beneficiaries from Kaduna North who simply identified himself as Jibril said he had not received any allowance since the programme started.

“Most of us from Kaduna North Local Government have not been paid and we don’t know why because the programme had ended in April,” he said.

State Coordinator of NDE, Sani Maiwada, said some of the banks had already paid the beneficiaries one month salary while some were yet to pay the money.

In Oyo State, only about 30 per cent of the applicants who were using one of the stipulated banks got N20,000 stipends, We gathered. Some of the applicants said they didn’t get any information from the NDE in Oyo State on the mode of operation for the job.

A housewife, who refused to be named, said: “I have not been paid. Even my friend had done her own documentation but she had not received anything from the bank. I am not convinced that they will pay because we are currently not doing any job.

“I think the scheme is a scam; it is possible some people have collected our money because nothing is impossible in Nigeria.”

The chairman and coordinator of the programme in Oyo State, Ope Salami, said that about 30 per cent of applicants had been paid for one or two months.

In Rivers State, it was gathered that 23,000 persons from the 23 LGAs of the state were selected for the special public works projects.

A source from the management committee of the project told our reporter that about N1.38bn was released but could not confirm if it was accessed by the participants.

However, the source who pleaded anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter said equipment for the applicants had been distributed to local government councils through the NDE.

Findings showed that most of the participants in Cross River State have not received the monthly stipends of N20,0000. Some of them who spoke with us said they were to be paid through one of the second generation banks but they were yet to be paid even though they had completed their documentations.

Miss Regina Akpabio who resides in Calabar South said she had visited the bank a number of times and filled the required forms but no luck.

Another participant, Dopse Edet, expressed dismay that months after the payment was supposed to have started, they were yet to receive even one month pay.

Chairman of the project in Cross River State, Barrister Maria Ukpayang, said it was difficult to immediately ascertain the number of those registered in the state and those currently receiving the monthly stipend.

Some beneficiaries of the NDE public works programme in Ondo State alleged that they were paid N16,000 instead of N20,000.

“The money was given to us by hand instead of being paid into our bank accounts,” noted one of the benefactors from Owo Local Government Area.

Another participant from Akoko South -West said that they were yet to be paid

Militants in Akwa Ibom State have requested that the EFCC and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) examine the state government’s handling of local government allocation since 2015.

Militants affiliated with the Niger Delta Volunteers (NDV) requested the state’s anti-graft agencies to launch a probe within two weeks.

NDV claimed that council chairmen in the state were functioning on zero allocation, and even accused the current administration of interfering with council allocations totaling N2.23 trillion since it came into power, in a statement signed by its state leader, ‘General’ Ekpo Ekpo.

According to the statement made available to newsmen in Uyo, the militant group threatened hostilities and disruption of the activities of government and multinational oil companies in the state should the EFCC and ICPC fail to initiate a probe of how council funds are spent in the state.

The NDV stated, ”It is a common fact that the government of Akwa I bom state under the leadership of Udom Emmanuel has been misappropriating, mismanaging and misusing local government council funds while coercing the local government chairmen to sign the amount they have not received.

”The state governor has been starving local government areas in the state without substantial development projects hence our call for accountability.

”Since the swearing in of the present local government council chairmen last year, the situation has become worse as the governor declared zero allocation therefore making the councils ineffective and malfunctions without projects”.

However, the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly denied the claims by some sources in the Local government Councils and even some Chairmen that they are running the Councils on zero allocation.

Fielding questions from newsmen on Tuesday in Uyo, the House Committee on Information, Mr. Aniefiok Akpan, assured that the House would invite the council chairmen to defend their claims on the issue.

“It’s very unfortunate for a Chairman to tell you that there is zero allocation. As the head of the committee, I interface with the commissioner for Local government and I know that every month. Allocations are sent to them directly after the Joint Account Committee (JAC) meeting.

“So the issue of zero allocation is totally false. Though no Chairman will ever admit that he has money, I stand to be challenged, those that want to leave a legacy also have some projects that can stand in their names.

“Our position is, let the local government formally complain to us about zero allocation if it is actually true. We have resumed.” Akpan stressed.

Meanwhile the Commissioner for Information and Strategy, Mr. Ini Ememobong could not be reached to react to the issue via telephone at the time of filing this report.

The Federal Government asked for the authority to regulate private broadcasting in the country via the internet and other online sources on Wednesday, claiming that the government has a responsibility to oversee broadcast material.

Alhaji Lai Mohammed, Minister of Information, said the National Assembly should amend the existing NBC law to include internet broadcast and all online media broadcast in the country, speaking at a public hearing on a bill to amend the National Broadcasting Act organized by the House Committee on Information, National Orientation, Ethics and Values.

However, industry players, like as the Institute for Media and Society, International Press Centre and Centre for Media Law and Advocacy said the inclusion of internet broadcast and online media to the category of broadcast service licenses will be injurious to the civic space, freedom of expression and media freedom.

However, Speaker of the House, Rep. Femi Gbajabiamila said when passed the contents of the bill will substantially influence the creation of media content in the country.

But the Broadcasting Organisation of Nigeria who are the major beneficiaries of the regulations of the National Broadcasting Commission was conspicuously missing at the public hearing.
The Minister was reacting to the provisions of section 2c of proposed law which listed the categories of licenses to be granted which include Cable television Services, Direct Satellite broadcast, Direct to Home, IPTV, Radio, EPG and Digital Terrestrial television; radio and television stations owned, stablish or operated by the federal, state and local governments, Broadcast signal distribution, Online broadcast, community broadcasting, public service broadcasting, among others.

He said “I want to add here specifically that internet broadcasting and all online media should be included in this because we have responsibility to monitor content, including twitter.”

On Wednesday, Cardinal Anthony Okogie, Emeritus Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, bemoaned the situation of the country, declaring Nigeria to be “essentially a failed state.”

He said that while the problems confronting the country did not begin under the current administration, they have worsened in the last six years. He was speaking at his 85th birthday thanksgiving mass and 50th Episcopal Ordination anniversary at the Catholic Church of Assumption in Lagos.

He described President Muhammadu Buhari’s declaration on the sixth anniversary of his administration that Nigerians were better off than when he took office as “shocking.”

He stated that the country is experiencing all indices of a failed state, lamenting the high level of insecurity.

Okogie, a former President of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), lamented that every part of the country is battling insecurity and insurgency.

According to him, there has been no “articulated and coordinated response” to tackle the challenges apart from the usual “playing to the ostrich.”

He also condemned the recent ban on the micro-blogging platform, Twitter, by the Federal Government, describing it as too harsh.

He stated that what Nigeria needed was national restoration which he observed is not entirely manmade but given by God.

“It seems that Nigeria has become a killing field as impunity and terror reign from one end to the other and there seems to be no end in sight at present,” he stated.

“As they say, the matter speaks for itself as it is evident that Nigeria has practically become a failed state. A country fails when it is no longer able to protect its citizens from harm and secure their welfare.

“A country fails when, instead of being a harbor of refuge for its citizens, it turns out to be a conundrum of fire and sorrow that consumes its citizens.

“A country fails when instead of reassuring its citizens by actions and policies that the future is secure, it becomes a case of most people planning to flee the country to other climes where their governments are truly functioning. Such is practically our case today.

“Well it is true that our problems did not start under this administration, it seems to have worsened economically and politically in these past six years. Insurgency in the northeast is still ongoing and insecurity has spread nationwide in spite of the military being deployed everywhere.

“The avalanche of banditry and kidnapping that has overwhelmed parts of the northwest and central cannot be described as they stroll casually into schools and cart away tens to hundreds of students and mysteriously melt into nearby forests or bushes, the entire security apparatus often seem clueless or helpless.

“The situation in some parts of the southeast also leaves much to be desired, with the officers mobbed, soldiers butchered, innocent citizens killed, properties destroyed, people are no longer safe in the land.

“Unknown gunmen has become our favorite vocabulary in our parlance as they come in and out, operate untraceable. The case of the Fulani herdsmen has been badly handled so far. Cases of unemployment, inflation, fear, poverty and misery are shooting from the roof. The sad part is that there is no articulate coordinated response from the government to curb these downward trends apart from the usual playing the ostrich and throwing tantrums when they are criticized like the rather harsh suspension of Twitter.”

The clergyman, however, called on the government at all levels “to rise up to the situation and carry out their duties and save this nation from drowning.”

“Let them listen to the cries of the people and do the needful. The effects of the insecurity and anxiety in our lives are massive. We need to join hands together to rescue this once favored land,” he added.

Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to be more effective in protecting Nigerians’ lives and property.

Wike, speaking about the country’s chronic insecurity, accused Buhari of wanting to delegate his constitutional powers of guarding lives and property to governors.

On Tuesday, the governor spoke at the commissioning of the 21-kilometer Odufor-Akpoku-Umuoye Road in the state’s Etche Local Government Area.

Wike claimed that the federal administration, led by the All Progressives Congress, had no idea how to address the country’s troubling security challenges and make it safe for Nigerians.

He urged the federal government to declare that it can no longer keep its commitments to Nigerians, noting that acknowledging weakness openly when a leader fails earns respect.

“Mr President, you are the Commander-in-Chief of the Federal Republic of Nigeria’s Armed Forces.

You appoint the Inspector-General of Police, the Chiefs of Army and Naval Staffs, the Commissioner of Police, the Director of the Department of State Service, and other security officials.

“Which one do we appoint? How can people appointed by Mr President be under me?

“It is not only to borrow money for Nigeria that you’re in charge. You must also be in charge of other things including security. Who signed order 10? Is it the governors?

“Mr. President was short of calling names of those governors who run to Aso Rock when they are supposed to stay in their states to see the needs of their states and people. Mr. President should have come out openly and said, my APC governors, stop worrying me. Go back to your states and do your work. On that, I support him.

“Thank God, Mr. President knows that I am not one of those that go to visit him over one problem or the other. I, as the governor of Rivers under PDP, you’ll never find me there.”

Critics of the Federal Government have lamented over the level of borrowing by the current administration but the Buhari government has defended its action.

The House of Representatives on Tuesday inquired about the whereabouts of $44 million collected from the Nigeria Intelligence Agency (NIA) by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC) in 2017.

The money, however, is not in the possession of the Office of the National Security Adviser (ONSA).

Brig.-Gen. Ja’afaru Mohammed, ONSA’s Director of Finance and Administration, told a House ad hoc committee investigating the management of recovered funds and assets between 2002 and 2020 that the ONSA had nothing to do with them.

According to him : “The NIA was under investigation and the President directed that the ONSA should take charge of the place. I was sent there to take charge of the funds of the agency. I went there and counted the money in their vault and it was about $41 million.

“We kept that money. After the investigation, the President ordered that the money be returned to the agency. We have returned it to the owners, as directed by the President.”

He said funds recovered by the committee were paid directly into the Recovered Funds Account with the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), adding that the money could only be deposited into the account without withdrawals from it.

Members of the committee insisted that there were discrepancies in the presentation of the ONSA and the record presented to them by the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF).

They called for further clarification, especially on the inward and outward flow of funds into the account.