Following the six-week suspension of the four programmes under the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA) by President Bola Tinubu on Friday, he has approved the establishment of a Special Presidential Panel on the programmes, which will be led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun.
The Special Presidential Panel is tasked immediately to undertake a comprehensive review and audit of existing financial frameworks and policy guidelines of the social investment programmes with a view to implementing a total re-engineering of the financial architecture of the programmes with detailed modification to procedures guiding the programmes’ implementation moving forward.
According to a statement signed by the Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, Chief Ajuri Ngelale, on Saturday, the Special Presidential Panel, which is comprised of ministers representing strategic sectors and will ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to the reform effort, is made up of six members.
They are the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, as chairman, and Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Prof. Ali Pate, as member.
Other members include Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; Minister of Information and National Orientation, Mohammed Idris; Minister of Communicatons, Innovation and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani, and Minister of State for Youth.
“President Tinubu anticipates that this Special Presidential Panel will validate the confidence reposed in it by winning back all lost public confidence in these vital programmes over the years by ushering in a new era of operation based on open and accountable governance frameworks that will prove impervious to abuse and incompetence for the exclusive benefit of disadvantaged households across our nation,” the presidential media aide added.