Collection of forms for 774,000 jobs begins in Rivers

The Selection Committee of the Federal Government Extended Special Public Works Programme to engage 774,000 itinerant and unskilled workers across Nigeria, has commenced distribution of forms in Rivers State.

The chairman of the committee in Rivers, Innocent Barikor, stated this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Port Harcourt on Monday.

Mr Barikor said there were designated National Directorate of Employment (NDE) desk officers in the 23 local government areas of the state for the collection and submission of the forms.

He also disclosed that there were other contact persons whose numbers had been made public for qualified and interested applicants.

“We have demystified the process of transmitting the forms to ensure that they are made available because of the category of people we are dealing with.

“These are poor people that lack access to information, so we have agreed that even if they see the form from a friend, they can photocopy, fill and submit.

“The most important thing is their information that we need, not the original copy of the form; this is to make the process easy for collection and submission,” he said.

According to Mr Barikor, the state committee has directed the photocopying centre of its office at the Federal Secretariat in Port Harcourt to get the form from NDE and photocopy for people.

“Another reason for this is to respect COVID-19 protocols; interested people can collect the form and fill it at home.

“They can quietly come at their time and submit, or even give it to our coordinators at the Local government level; we don’t need a crowd at the secretariat,” he added.

The chairman said that even ward councillors had been told to get the form and photocopy for their people because they are the closest to the people.

He stated that bank details were not needed in the form because the federal government had designed a system to get the Bank Verification Number of applicants via their names.

“For those who don’t have bank accounts, we have made arrangements for accounts to be opened for them, all they need do is to get the form, fill and submit it.

“All forms should be completed and returned through the same means of collection between 10th and 24th August 2020.

“Applicants should note that this programme is a three months COVID- 19 palliative programme designed to address the challenges faced by itinerant and unskilled workers.

“Beneficiaries shall earn the sum of N20,000 per month for three months (October to December),” he explained. (NAN)