Nigeria, July 7 -- The minister of state for labour and employment, Festus Keyamo, has written a joint committee of the National Assembly in anticipation of his appearance before the committee to defend the 774,000-job recruitment exercise billed for October.

At his first coming a week ago, the minister sparred with the lawmakers when he rejected the move to hold the briefing behind closed doors.

He accused the lawmakers of planning to hijack the exercise, despite getting 15 per cent of the 774,000 job slots reserved for the lawmakers.

A day later, in a joint statement by both Houses of the National Assembly, called for a halt to the recruitment exercise until its modalities were explained to the lawmakers, while also inviting the labo...