Reps Give President Tinubu 72 Hours To Unfreeze NSIPA Accounts

The House of Representatives has issued an ultimatum to President Bola Tinubu to unfreeze all the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA).

The lower legislative chamber on Tuesday asked the Nigerian leader to mandate Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, to unfreeze the accounts within 72 hours from the time the ultimatum was given.

The lawmakers passed the resolution during plenary on Tuesday.

Recall that on January 12, President Bola Tinubu suspended all programmes administered by NSIPA for an initial six weeks as part of a probe of alleged misconduct in the management of the agency and its programmes.

Tinubu, on January 2, suspended the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of NSIPA, Halima Shehu, over alleged financial malfeasance.

The President also suspended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Betta Edu, on January 8.

The programmes affected include the N-Power, the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), the government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme, and the Home-grown School Feeding Initiative.

Speaking last year in April during an interview programme on Radio Nigeria in Kaduna, the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris, said a committee set up by President Tinubu to review the operational mechanism of the programmes has submitted its report to pave the way for the resumption of the schemes.

The minister, however, did not state when the suspended programmes will recommence.

Idris also added that 15 million vulnerable households will receive ₦25,000 conditional cash transfers for three months among other interventions.