President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the release of the funds for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the Special Public Works Programme.

Minister of State for Labour and Employment, Festus Keyamo confirmed the development in a statement released on Saturday.

Keyamo said “President Muhammadu Buhari has graciously directed a release of the funds for the payment of stipends to the 774,000 participants of the SPW programme.”

Keyamo added that he had directed the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) to begin processing the payments and participants should begin to receive payments soon.

The Federal Government in January 2021, flagged off the 774, 000 jobs with each participant expected to receive N20, 000 each in the next three months.

The minister said participants will be paid through their bank verification numbers (BVN) in order to eliminate fraud and/or double payments to participants.