Members of the House of Representatives have unanimously voted for the unfreezing of the accounts of the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) by the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of Economy, Wale Edun, mandating the president to ensure compliance within 72 hours.
The members argued that NSIPA’s programmes, despite being vital for poverty alleviation, youth empowerment, and economic inclusivity in Nigeria, have been hindered due to administrative bottlenecks, insufficient funding, and frozen accounts.
They said unfreezing the accounts would enable the smooth recommencement of all the programmes of NSIPA.
The house is also urging the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management to ensure that all the administrative bottlenecks hindering the smooth operations of all programmes of NSIPA are immediately removed.
The resolutions were reached following the adoption of a motion sponsored by the deputy speaker and 20 other lawmakers.
Tinubu, on January 2, suspended the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NSIPA, Halima Shehu, over alleged financial malfeasance, and on January 12 2024, suspended all programmes administered by NSIPA for an initial six weeks as part of a probe of alleged misconduct in the management of the agency and its programmes.
The President also suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, on January 8.
The freezing of the agency’s account and subsequent investigation by anti-corruption and security agencies were done to address the management issues.
The programmes affected include the N-Power, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), the government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and the Home-grown School Feeding Initiative.
The new head of the Investment Programme is Dr Badamasi Lawal who was appointed by the president in August.
