In a resolution passed in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, October 25, the House mandated its Committee on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises and the Committee on Poverty Alleviation to engage with the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and the Federal Ministry of Industry, Trade and Investment to review the modalities for the implementation of social investment schemes in the country. It also mandated the Committees to carry out investigations into the implementation of National Social Investment programmes and produce a report in eight weeks.
The resolution came pursuant to a motion moved by Hon. Midala Usman Balami. It was necessitated by the need to scrutinise the Social Investment programmes to which about N3 trillion has been allocated within the last 7 years. However, the impact of these programmes apparently fall short of expectations as about 71 million Nigerians still live in poverty. Some of the challenges identified for the poor impact of these programmes include unreliable identification and tracking systems for beneficiaries. The motion further noted that in July 2023, President Tinubu approved N500 billion as palliative to mitigate the effects of petrol subsidy removal and increased the number of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer programme to 15 million. The motion raised concerns that continuing the implementation of Social Investment programmes, including the recent N500 billion palliative without a clear system for identification of beneficiaries may translate to lack of transparency and non-adherence to relevant laws in the implementation of these programmes.