Heritage Bank Plc is set to commence the account opening with Bank Verification Numbers (BVN) for the earmarked 774,000 participants of the SPW Programme in their branches, throughout the 774 Local Government Areas.
The participants are to be paid an allowance of N20, 000 (Twenty thousand Naira) only, monthly and the programme is to kick off from 1st November 2020, and a total of 129 LGAs have been assigned to Heritage Bank Plc.
The SPW is a post-COVID-19 poverty alleviation initiative, approved by President Muhammadu Buhari and the Federal Ministry of State for Labour and Employment to implement 774,000 Jobs in all the 774 LGAs in Nigeria, for a period of three (3) months.
A post COVID-19 poverty alleviation initiative approved by the Nigerian government and the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment, the SPW seeks to implement 774,000 jobs in all the 774 LGAs in the country within a period of three months.
The statement noted that a special feature form had been supplied by government to capture the biodata of participants for the exercise.
The programme has seen some setbacks to its commencement with the National Assembly earlier asking that it be suspended after a fracas between Minister of State for Labour and Employment Festus Keyamo and the lawmakers regarding the procedure and operations of the scheme.
In July, the Nigerian government however announced through its Twitter handle, @Nigeriangov, that the initiative had commenced.
“The Special Public Works Programme of the Federal Government has kicked off nationwide. The State Selection Committees have been inaugurated and have commenced work,” it said.
SPW, earlier planned to take off on 1st October, was postponed on the grounds of delay in release of funds for the purchase of equipment for the programme and the fact that some of the sites to be used for its implementation were flooded by rainfall.
