President Bola Tinubu has requested an amendment to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (Establishment) Act. In a bill sent to the National Assembly on November 19, 2024, the President is asking for an amendment to make the National Social Register the primary tool for targeting beneficiaries of social intervention programmes. The bill has been read for the First Time in both Chambers of the National Assembly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will be\nrecalled that in October 2023, an Executive bill from President Tinubu to amend\nthe NSIPA Act, to move the control and supervision of all National Social\nInvestment Programmes from the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty\nAlleviation to the Presidency, passed Second Reading in the Senate. The bill\nhas since been referred to the Committee of the Whole for consideration and\npassage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nigeria\u2019s National\nSocial Investment programmes have been enmeshed in controversy. In October\n2023, then Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu,\nsuspended N-Power, one of the four social intervention programmes, to probe\nsome irregularities in the scheme. In January 2024, the\nPresident suspended the Chief Executive Officer of NSIPA, Halima Shehu on\nallegations of financial misappropriation, only three months after her\nconfirmation by the Senate in October 2023. Less than a week later, he suspended the\nMinister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on\nallegations\nof financial impropriety. This was followed by the\nPresident\u2019s suspension of all programmes administered by the NSIPA to facilitate a comprehensive investigation the\nagency\u2019s operations\u200b.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
President Bola Tinubu then established a six-man\nSpecial Presidential Panel to review and audit the framework of\nthe National Social Investment Programmes (NSIPs)\nand the National Social Investment\nProgramme Agency (NSIPA). The panel was chaired by the Minister of Finance and\nCoordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun\nand included the Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Minsiter\nof Budget and Economic Planning, Minister of Information and National Orientation, Minsiter\nof Commumications, Innovation and Digital Economy; and the Minsiter of State\nfor Youth. In its report, the panel recommended: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amidst all of\nthese issues, President Tinubu had in July 2023, requested the National\nAssembly\u2019s approval for a $800 million loan facility from the World Bank,\nfor expanding the National Social Safety Net Programme (NASSP), to provide shock-responsive safety net support for vulnerable\nNigerians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The\nPresident stated that the funds would be disbursed digitally to\nbeneficiaries\u2019 accounts or mobile wallets to promote transparency and stimulate\neconomic activity, particularly within the informal sector. This initiative is\npart of broader efforts to mitigate the socioeconomic effects of fuel subsidy\nremoval while addressing essential needs such as nutrition, healthcare, and\neducation for the poor and vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The $800 million World Bank loan requested by President\nTinubu in July 2023 is linked to social investment initiatives but extends\nslightly beyond the scope of the traditional National Social Investment\nProgramme (NSIP). This loan is specifically allocated to the National Social\nSafety Net Programme (NASSP), a broader initiative designed to combat poverty\nand provide targeted support to Nigeria\u2019s vulnerable populations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although the National Assembly has approved the\nloan request, it is unclear whether this approval is connected to proposed\namendments to the NSIPA Act, which are currently under consideration by the\nNational Assembly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Bola Tinubu has requested an amendment to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (Establishment) Act. In a bill sent to the National Assembly on November 19, 2024, the President is asking for an amendment to make the National Social Register the primary tool for targeting beneficiaries of social intervention programmes. The bill has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3428,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3693"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3699,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3693\/revisions\/3699"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/placng.org\/Legist\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}