Nigerian lawmakers give Tinubu a 3-day ultimatum to unfreeze social investment programme accounts 

The lawmakers urged the president to mandate the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to unfreeze the accounts on Tuesday, according to Channels Television.

They argued that unfreezing the accounts would pave the way for the smooth recommencement of all NSIPA programmes.

The resolution was based on the adoption of a motion sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, and 20 others.

At plenary, the lawmakers expressed concern that, despite NSIPA’s programmes being crucial for poverty alleviation, youth empowerment, and economic inclusivity in Nigeria, the agency’s functionality has been hindered by “administrative bottlenecks, insufficient funding, and frozen accounts.” 

The motion stated that the federal government had suspended the programmes and frozen the agency’s accounts because NSIPA’s activities were truncated due to alleged financial mismanagement by handlers of the programmes.

The lawmakers acknowledged the subsequent investigation by anti-corruption and security agencies but urged the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to immediately remove all administrative bottlenecks hindering the smooth operation of all NSIPA programmes.

In January of this year, President Bola Tinubu approved the establishment of a special presidential panel on social investment programmes, which will be headed by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun.

The statement reads:

“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has suspended all administered programmes by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).” 

“This is further to the ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.” 

“All four (4) programmes administered by NSIPA, viz; N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme, have been suspended for a period of six (6) weeks in the first instance.” 

According to the spokesperson’s statement, the special presidential panel will be responsible for carrying out a comprehensive review and audit of existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines for the social investment programmes.

Additionally, the special presidential panel is tasked with implementing a total re-engineering of the financial architecture of the social investment programmes, with detailed modifications to procedures guiding the programmes’ implementation moving forward.