The House of Representatives has issued a 72-hour ultimatum for President Bola Tinubu to direct the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun to unfreeze all accounts of the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) within 72 hours.
The House also directed the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Disaster Management, Nentawe Yilwatda to ensure that all the administrative bottlenecks hindering the smooth operations of all programmes of NSIPA are immediately removed.
The lawmakers who also resolve to transmit this resolution to the Senate for concurrence, said this has becomes necessary to enable the smooth recommencement of all programmes and the release of funds to NSIPA for the payment of outstanding stipends owed to 395,731 N-Power beneficiaries nationwide.
These resolutions was sequel to the adoption of a motion sponsored by the Deputy Speaker, Rep. Benjamin Kalu, and 19 others.
Moving the motion, Kalu noted that NSIPA was established pursuant to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (Establishment) Act, 2023, with the mandate of empowering unemployed persons, vulnerable widows, orphans, children, persons with disabilities, and vulnerable senior citizens, etc.
He also noted that NSIPA oversees critical social intervention programs such as Grant for Vulnerable Groups, N-Power, the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), Conditional Cash Transfers (CCT), and the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP).
He further noted that the Renewed Hope Agenda of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Government gives emphasis to the mandate of the NSIPA to cushion the effect of economic shocks on the poor and the vulnerable.
The Deputy Speaker expressed concerns that despite the programmes of NSIPA being vital for poverty alleviation, youth empowerment, and economic inclusivity in Nigeria, the agency’s functionality has been hindered due to administrative bottlenecks, insufficient funding, and frozen accounts.
He recalled that the effort of the government and the laudable programmes of NSIPA were truncated by alleged financial mismanagement by handlers of the programmes leading to the suspension of programmes and freezing of the agency’s account and subsequent investigation by anti-corruption and security agencies.
The lawmaker said, restoring NSIPA’s account aligns with the President’s vision, ensuring that poverty alleviation efforts remain effective, efficient, and impactful, and that it is essential to act swiftly to resolve this issue to maintain momentum toward the administration’s poverty eradication goals;
Kalu expressed concern that; “the smooth operations of the programmes and the fulfillment of the mandate of NSIPA are hindered due to the suspension (freezing) of the accounts of the agency and other administrative bottlenecks, which has remained in force even more than 3 months after the President reconstituted the new management of NSIPA.
“The NSIPA Frozen account contradicts the President’s mandate on poverty alleviation by hindering and halting social welfare programs, including conditional cash transfers, small business grants, and school feeding initiatives; undermining economic empowerment initiatives; delaying in achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs); and causing erosion of public confidence and administrative paralysis in fighting poverty, among other things.
“As a result of the suspension of accounts of the NSIPA, the N-Power programme has been so negatively affected that 395,731 beneficiaries are owed outstanding stipends to the tune of N81, 315, 440, 000 (Eighty-One Billion, Three Hundred and Fifteen Million, Four Hundred and Forty Thousand Naira)—a fund already captured under the 2023 and 2024 amended Appropriation Acts, which will lapse by the year ending 31st December, 2024.”
The House on adoption of the motion, agreed to transmit its resolution to the Senate for concurrence.