Allegations of massive fraud in the operations of the National Social Investment Programme Agency, NSIPA, as well as the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, have sparked calls for President Bola Tinubu to probe the administration of his predecessor, former President Muhammadu Buhari.
Buhari set up NSIPA in 2016, a year after he assumed office as Nigeria’s President, to drive his administration’s National Social Investments Programmes, NSIP.
The Social Investment Programmes were conceived to tackle poverty and hunger across the country.
NSIPA is currently an agency under the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
The Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation was also set up by Buhari’s administration – originally as the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
Buhari established the Ministry via an Executive pronouncement on August 21, 2019.
The NSIPA programmes, namely N-power, Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT), Government Enterprise and Empowerment (GEEP), and Home Grown School Feeding (HGSF), as well as the overall mandate of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, were expected to alleviate poverty in the country and provide succour to distressed Nigerians.
But a cross section of Nigerians, including civil society organizations and political activists, who spoke with Newsmen noted that the establishment of the institutions has become counter productive