President Forms Panel to Oversee Review of Social Investment Programmes

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has announced the formation of a special Presidential Panel on Social Investment Programmes, as disclosed by Ajuri Ngelale, presidential spokesperson, in a statement on Saturday. The President has appointed Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance, to head the Special Panel, which has been tasked with conducting a comprehensive review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the Social Investment Programmes.

Additionally, the Panel will oversee a complete re-engineering of the financial architecture of the programmes, with a focus on modifying implementation procedures. The Panel comprises several key members, including the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance (Chairman), the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, the Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, and the Minister of State for Youth.

This development comes in the wake of the suspension of the N-Power Programme, the Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, and two other programmes under the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). These suspensions were put in place to facilitate a thorough investigation into the NSIPA and the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.

It is worth noting that President Tinubu suspended Halima Shehu, the national Coordinator of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, on January 2nd, 2024, due to allegations of financial misappropriation. Shortly after, the President suspended Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, over corruption allegations amounting to N585 million.

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