The Minister of Interior, Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola , has attributed the delay in the planned recruitment of 774,000 workers to the coronavirus pandemic .
He explained that the exercise would have commenced but for the lockdown occasioned by the disease.

The President , Major General Muhammadu Buhari ( retd.) , had last week ordered the recruitment of the workers from the 774 Local Government Areas of the country .

They are to engage in sweeping of streets, markets and clearing of gutters for a period of three months.

The initiative will be funded from the N 60bn COVID- 19 Intervention Fund and will last from October to December 2020 , according to the Minister of Finance , Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed.

Giving an update on the recruitment at the press briefing of the Presidential Taskforce on COVID- 19 in Abuja on Tuesday , Aregbesola said the exercise had to be suspended when the pandemic broke out.

He said that the staff to conduct the recruitment have been forced to stay at home , stressing that no one could carry out such assignment at this critical time.

“ Our youths should be calm, believing that the President’ s order on the recruitment will be obeyed as soon as the lockdown over COVID -19 is over, ” he said .