Senate has commenced an emergency closed session to discuss the outcome of the meeting between the President, Muhammadu Buhari and the presiding officers of the National Assembly last Thursday.
According to the Punch, the closed session started immediately the red chamber resumed plenary on Tuesday,
The Minority Leader of the Upper Chamber, Senator Eyinnaya Abaribe, had told the publication on Friday that the Senate would take an official position on the decision by the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo, to flout its decision on the recruitment of 774,000 federal workers.
He said the senators were expecting the Senate President, Ahmad Lawan, to brief them on the outcome of Thursday’s meeting between the presiding officers of the National Assembly and the President on the issue.
Abaribe expressed that;
The Senate will take an official position on the issue next Tuesday after listening to the outcome of the meeting between the presiding officers and the President over the matter.
We asked our presiding officers to meet with President Buhari over the issue and we have not had plenary since they returned. The Senate President will brief us on Tuesday at plenary and we will take a decision on it.
The federal parliament had suspended the Public Works Programme following a disagreement between its committee on Labour and Keyamo.
Read Also: 774,000 Jobs: Senate, Keyamo In Rowdy Session Over Recruitment Process
The lawmakers accused Keyamo of hijacking the recruitment exercise from the National Directorate of Employment, which got N52bn approval to carry out the programme.
However, Keyamo announced on Tuesday that Buhari had asked him to proceed with the recruitment process notwithstanding the position of the National Assembly on the issue.
Read Also: 774,000 Jobs: Keyamo Secures Buhari’s Approval
The development forced the Senate to hold an emergency closed-door session on Wednesday and mandated presiding officers of both chambers of the nation’s parliament to immediately meet with Buhari on the proposed recruitment of 774,000 federal workers.
President of the Senate, and the Speaker, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, secured an appointment for a meeting with Buhari on Thursday where the issue was discussed.
