President Bola Tinubu has suspended all administered social investment programmes by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
In a statement on Friday, the Director of Information t the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr. Segun Imohiosen said that the President’s decision was in view of the “ongoing investigation of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and its programmes.
He said that all the four programmes progammes by the agency – N- Power, Conditional Cash Transfer, Government Enterprise and Empowerment, and Home Grown School Feeding – have been suspended for a period of six weeks in the first instance.
“President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has also raised significant concerns regarding operational lapses and improprieties surrounding payments to the programmes’ beneficiaries, ” Imohoisen added.
According to the statement, President Tinubu also constituted a ministerial panel to conduct a thorough review of the agency’s operations to recommend necessary reforms of the NSIPA.
During the suspension, all NSIPA-related activities, including but not limited to all distributions, events, payments, collaborations and registrations are frozen, the statement said.
Activities of NSIPA have been under probe since the suspension of its Chief Executive Officer, Halima Shehu over the ongoing investigation into the N37,170,855,753.44 allegedly laundered in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development, under former minister, Hajiya Sadiya Umar-Farouq.
Farouq’s successor, Dr. Betta Edu, was also suspended by the President and quizzed by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for directing that N585 million should be transferred to a private account owned by one Bridget Oniyelu, who the ministry said currently serves as the Project Accountant, Grants for Vulnerable Groups.
A comprehensive inquiry into the scandal in the ministry was also ordered by the President.
