Sophia Michaels
He said: “I made it very clear to the agencies that I am no longer a public official and I am not going to be using any of the money that I have in foreign accounts to support my activities as a minister. I am also not going to be using any of the money that I have repatriated back to the country to support my activities as a minister.”
Festus Keyamo, Minister of State for Labour and Employment, has broken his silence after being challenged by Atiku Abubakar’s aide, Phrank Shaibu over allegations of corruption.
According to Keyamo, he is in support of Nigerians scrutinising public officers for alleged corruption.
Keyamo stated this on Sunday while reacting to the call by Phrank Shaibu, media to former Vice President, Atiku Abubakar, to the National Assembly to make public the report of its investigation into the N52bn Special Works Programme implemented across the 774 Local Governments Areas of the country.
In a statement on Sunday, Shaibu recalled that in 2021, the Federal Government in a bid to ameliorate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, approved the sum of N52bn for the hiring of 774,000 Nigerians across all the LGAs in the country for three months.
He stated that the 774,000 Nigerians were hired to take up menial jobs such as clearing of drainages, sweeping of markets, cutting grasses and other community services.
Shaibu said the National Assembly had described the programme as a sham and also questioned how the funds were spent, adding that Keyamo had defended the shambolic implementation of the programme.
He, therefore, called on the National Assembly to publish its report on the failed project and also call on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to immediately probe the finances of Keyamo following his acquisition of properties in the United States.
Reacting in an interview with Vanguard, Keyamo said he has declared his assets, asking Shaibu and anyone else in doubt to contact the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) to release his assets form.
The minister stated that he did not acquire his property in the US with public funds, stating that he acquired the assets with money made from legal practice.
He said: “Any Nigerian for that matter who wishes to know anything about any public officer
