President Bola Tinubu has announced his administration’s readiness to resume the suspended conditional cash transfer programme.
Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, announced this at a ministerial sectoral briefing in Abuja to mark the first year of the Tinubu administration.
According to the minister, the scheme will provide direct payment to 75 million Nigerians and 50 million households, especially the vulnerable.
On January 12, President Tinubu suspended all programmes administered by the National Social Investment Programme Agency for six weeks, as part of a probe of alleged malfeasance in the management of the agency and the scheme.
The president also suspended Betta Edu as the minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation on January 8.
Edu’s ministry supervises the operations of the NSIPA.The intervention programmes affected include the N-Power, the conditional cash transfer scheme, the government enterprise and empowerment programme, and the home-grown school feeding initiative.
To revamp the programme, the President approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel, led by Edun to carry out an intensive review and audit of the existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the social investment programmes.
Giving an update on steps taken by the committee at the briefing, the finance minister said the government had decided to restart the programme to provide succour to poor Nigerians.