On Tuesday, the House of Representatives said that the Nigerian Constitution does not recognise the office of the Minister of State, and as such, urged President Muhammadu Buhari to give directive to the Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige to act according to existing laws on the planned Special Public Works (SPW) programme.

This came after resolution followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by the Deputy Minority Leader, Toby Okechuckwu on Tuesday.

The House also directed the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed not to release funds contrary to that resolution.

Moving the motion, Okechuckwu said that 202 appropriation law recognizes “the National Directorate of Employment (NDE) Act as the implementation agency.”

He added that “Minister of State” is not a creation of Section 145 (1) of the 1999 Constitution. This may therefore be the reason for the refusal of the Minister of State to be guided on the method adopted by Parliament for its proceedings and his assertion that “only Mr. President can stop our work”, not our laws nor our institutions.”

It can be recalled that Festus Keyamo had a face off with Members of the House of Representatives, some days ago when he appeared before them.