The House of Representatives has urged President Bola Tinubu to speed up the investigation of the suspended Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Betta Edu.
This resolution was a sequel to a motion moved by Billy Osawaru (PDP, Edo) on Wednesday during plenary.
Moving the motion, Mr Osawaru said the suspension of the NSIP during “this period of increasing hardship” is “heightening” the challenges of the vulnerable population relying on its assistance and could lead to a rise in poverty levels, social unrest and “ultimately impacting negatively on the overall stability and development” of the country.
He said the cases of looting of warehouses and food trucks in many cities across the country as a result of increasing hunger and suffering, “signal the need for immediate action” to ameliorate the sufferings of Nigerians such as the resumption of all forms of social investment programmes.
Mr Osawaru said the planned move of the social investment programmes to the finance ministry is against the law.
“The alleged recommendation suggesting that a new steering committee board under the leadership of the minister of finance should henceforth oversee the social investment programmes is not only an anomaly but contravenes the extant law which situates the implementing agency and programmes under the purview of the ministry of humanitarian affairs and poverty alleviation,” he said.
“While there may be legislative actions to amend the National Social Investment Programme Agency Act 2023, up until the Act is completely amended, and enacted, the current status quo cannot be reviewed by mere executive action.”
He, therefore, prayed the House to urge the government to direct a serving minister of state to oversee relevant approvals and implementation of the social investment programmes to “minimize the adverse implication of increasing hunger and sufferings experienced by vulnerable Nigerians relying on the programme”.
He also asked the federal government to “place on hold” the planned idea to move the social investment programmes to the finance ministry.
The motion was adopted unanimously by the lawmakers, without debate, and passed when Speaker Abbas Tajudeen put it to voice vote.
President Tinubu suspended Ms Edu in January because she ordered the transfer of N585.2 million into the private bank account of a civil servant, who is the accountant in charge of grants for vulnerable Nigerians.
The president also asked the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to carry out a “thorough investigation” of all the ministry’s financial transactions.”
The investigation extended to the entire framework of Nigeria’s social investment programmes.
Ms Edu, 37, has denied any wrongdoing. Her office said she had approved the transfer into a personal account for the “implementation of grants to vulnerable groups.”
In addition, the president ordered the suspension of the National Social Investment Programmes like the N-Power Programme, Conditional Cash Transfer Programme, Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and Home Grown School Feeding Programme pending investigations.
