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By Emmanuel Adeleke
The Federal Government has disclosed that it had reinstated the suspended social investment programme, adding that the scheme would provide direct payments to 75 million Nigerians in 50 million households to reduce the suffering of citizens, especially the vulnerable groups.
Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, made the disclosure at the sectoral ministerial briefing to mark the first anniversary of President Bola Tinubu’s administration, on Tuesday.
Edun stated that the cash transfer programme was overhauled to tackle fraud.
Recall that Tinubu had on January 12, suspended all the programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) for six weeks, as part of a probe into alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and the scheme.
The president also suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, on January 8. Edu’s ministry supervises the operations of the NSIPA.
The intervention programmes affected include N-Power, conditional cash transfer scheme, government enterprise and empowerment programme and the home-grown school feeding initiative.
On March 13, the House of Representatives asked the Federal Government to resume the implementation of the suspended social investment initiatives.
To revamp the programme, Tinubu approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel, led by Edun to carry out an intensive review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the social investment programmes.
Giving an update on the steps taken by the committee at the briefing, the finance minister stated that the government had decided to restart the programme to provide succour for poor Nigerians.
“I am duty-bound to give you an overview of the strategy, policies, and implementation of Mr President’s reform programme. Immediately upon assuming office, Mr President launched macroeconomic reforms to restore stability to the Nigerian economy, including subsidy reforms and foreign exchange market reforms.
“These reforms caused a spike in costs for individuals and businesses, but Mr President is committed to counterbalancing the negative effects with interventions across the social spectrum.
“The government has restarted the social investment programme, providing direct payments to 75 million Nigerians in 50 million households. Access to credit has been improved, with N1 billion allocated to consumer credit and grants of N50,000 being given to one million nano industries,” he said.
