The Federal Government announced Tuesday the reinstatement of the suspended social investment programme, revealing it would now deliver direct payments to 75 million Nigerians across 50 million households to alleviate citizen hardship, especially among vulnerable groups.
The cash transfer programme has been revamped to address issues of fraud.
Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, made this announcement during a ministerial sectoral briefing in Abuja, marking President Bola Tinubu’s first year in office.
On January 12, Tinubu suspended all programmes managed by the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) for six weeks to investigate alleged mismanagement. This suspension also included the removal of Betta Edu, the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, on January 8. Edu’s ministry oversees NSIPA operations.
The affected programmes included N-Power, the conditional cash transfer scheme, the government enterprise and empowerment programme, and the home-grown school feeding initiative.
On March 13, the House of Representatives urged the federal government to resume these social investment initiatives.
To revamp the programme, Tinubu established a Special Presidential Panel, led by Edun, to conduct a comprehensive review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policies of the social investment programmes.
Updating on the committee’s progress, Edun said the government decided to restart the programme to provide relief to poor Nigerians.
Edun stated, “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 50,000 Naira being given to 1 million nano industries.”
