By Modupe Gbadeyanka
In the first instance, all the schemes run by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) have been suspended by President Bola Tinubu for a period of six weeks.
This action followed the controversies trailing the programmes, particularly with the transfer of public funds into private bank accounts of officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
Recall that Mr Tinubu suspended Mrs Betta Edu, the Minister in charge of the ministry, this week over her approval for the transfer of N585.2 million to the account of an official of the ministry.
She was directed by the President to hand over to the Permanent Secretary in the ministry, but there have been calls that the Minister may not have acted alone with the support of civil servants under her.
In a statement issued on Friday night for the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr George Akume, by the Director of Information, Mr Segun Imohiose, it was disclosed that during the period of this suspension, all NSIPA-related activities, including but not limited to all distributions, events, payments, collaborations, and registrations, are now frozen.
It was disclosed that the suspension followed the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.
The NSIPA oversees the N-Power Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and the Home-Grown School Feeding Programme.
The statement said the President has constituted a ministerial panel to conduct a thorough review of the agency’s operations with a view to recommending necessary reforms of the NSIPA.
“The President wishes to assure the stakeholders and all Nigerians that his administration remains committed to a swift and unbiased process that will ensure that, going forward, social intervention programmes will work exactly as intended, to the benefit of the most vulnerable Nigerians,” it noted.
Adedapo Adesanya