RENEWED HOPE: Close the Tap and Fix the Leaking Pipes Approach to Resolving the Ongoing Investigations into the Alleged Malfeasance in the Humanitarian Ministry By Yazid Inuwa MK Bauchi

“President Tinubu's six (6) weeks suspension of all the four (4) National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP) is a stitch in time ...!“

The Presidency last night said that President Bola Tinubu will not spare anyone found guilty in the ongoing investigation of financial infractions in the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation and its Social Investment Programmes. 

Perhaps in a “close the tap and fix the leaking pipes” approach to resolving the ongoing investigations into the alleged malfeasance in the Humanitarian Ministry, President Bola Tinubu's six-week suspension of the four (4) programmes under the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA)– N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme.

During the suspension period, all NSIPA-related activities, including distributions, events, payments, collaborations, and registrations, are frozen. Whereas, he approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel, which will be led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Honourable Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun. 

This Special Presidential Panel is tasked with immediately undertaking a comprehensive review and audit of existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the social investment programmes with a view to implementing a total re-engineering of the financial architecture of the programmes with detailed modification to procedures guiding the programmes' implementation moving forward.

The Special Presidential Panel, which is comprised of ministers representing strategic sectors and will ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to the reform effort, is made up of the following members:

(1) Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance - Chairman

(2) Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare - Member

(3) Honourable Minister of Budget and Economic Planning - Member

(4) Honourable Minister of Information and National Orientation - Member

(5) Honourable Minister of Communicatons, Innovation and Digital Economy - Member

(6) Honourable Minister of State for Youth - Member

President Tinubu anticipates that this Special Presidential Panel will validate the confidence reposed in it by winning back all lost public confidence in these vital programmes over the years by ushering in a new era of operation based on open and accountable governance frameworks that will prove impervious to abuse and incompetence for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households across our nation.

President Tinubu further expressed significant concerns about operational lapses and improprieties related to payments to program beneficiaries. He assured stakeholders and Nigerians of his administration's commitment to a swift and unbiased process that ensures social intervention programs benefit the most vulnerable citizens.

This suspension aligns with the president's aim to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of social intervention programs for the betterment of the Nigerian population.

Hon Yazid Inuwa Malamin Kasuwa

DIRECTOR GENERAL (DG), SEN SHEHU BUBA Solidarity Movement [ONE TO TELL TEN]