In response to the recent suspension of four programmes under the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) for six weeks, President Bola Tinubu has approved the creation of a Special Presidential Panel, News About Nigeria reports.
This panel, announced in a statement issued on Saturday, January 13, by Ajuri Ngelale, the Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, will be led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun.
The primary objective of the Special Presidential Panel is to conduct a thorough review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines for social investment programmes.
Ngelale said the goal is to implement “a total re-engineering of the financial architecture of the programmes with detailed modification to procedures guiding the programmes’ implementation moving forward.”
The members of the Special Presidential Panel include the Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance as Chairman, and the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate as a member.
Other members are the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Abubakar Bagudu; the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Muhammad Idris; Minister of Communicatons, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijjani; and the Minister of State for Youth, Ayodele Olawande.
With the panel’s multidisciplinary approach, President Tinubu hopes to boost public trust in the social investment initiatives.
The President said these frameworks will prove “impervious to abuse and incompetence for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households across our nation.”
News About Nigeria reported that all four programmes administered by NSIPA — N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme — were suspended on Friday for six weeks initially.
Tinubu expressed concerns about operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the programmes’ beneficiaries.
