The House of Representatives at the resumption of plenary on Tuesday urged the Federal government to halt the take-off of the 774,000 special works programme scheduled to commence in January 2021.

The decision was taken after deliberations on a motion of urgent public importance sponsored by Mr  Olajide Olatubonsun who expressed concern that most Nigerians that have submitted their names to the NDE offices in their respective states have been unjustly excluded from the programme which the Minister of State for labour announced will start on January 5, 2021.

Olatunbosun further expressed worry the bad precedence would have been set if the programme is allowed to go ahead without following due process.

Contributing to the debate, Honorable  Onofiok Luke said the decision of the government to sack the Director-General of the National Directorate of Employment, Mohammed Ladan Argungu was ill-advised, especially when the DG stood for the right thing to be done to ensure that the programme succeeds.

Luke also called for the reinstatement of the sacked director-general with immediate effect as well as the suspension of the programme until adequate consultation is concluded.