President Bola Tinubu has suspended all programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA)
Announcing the suspension in a statement on Friday, January 12, the Director of Information at the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Segun Imohiosen, cited an “ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.”
Imohiosen said the suspension will last for six weeks “in the first instance.”
Programmes administered by NSIPA such as N- Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme and Home Grown School Feeding Programme have all been suspended.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has also raised significant concerns regarding operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the Programs’ beneficiaries.
“He has therefore 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 statement said.
READ ALSO: I have been Vindicated, Kano Governor Reacts to S’Court’s Judgement
Worried by the alleged financial malfeasance in the agency, the President had on January 2 suspended the Chief Executive Officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), Halima Shehu.
Before her appointment, Shehu worked as the National Coordinator of the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme and had previously served with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development from 2017 to 2022.
Her suspension is coming about three months after the confirmation of her appointment by the Senate
Since the suspension, the National N-POWER Program Manager, Akindele Egbuwalo, has been appointed in an acting capacity as NC/CEO pending the conclusion of the investigation.
Meanwhile, on January 8, the president also suspended Betta Edu as minister of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation.
Edu’s ministry supervises NSIPA and has come under scrutiny after a memo surfaced wherein she asked Oluwatoyin Madein, accountant-general of the federation, to transfer the sum of N585 million to a private account.
“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,” the statement added.
