Nigeria’s President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has given approval for the formation of a Special Presidential Panel led by the Coordinating Minister of the Economy and Minister of Finance, Mr. Wale Edun. The panel is assigned the immediate task of conducting a comprehensive review and audit of the financial frameworks and policy guidelines governing existing social investment programmes.
The primary goal of the special panel is to facilitate the total re-engineering of the financial architecture underpinning these programmes. The decision to establish this panel comes in the wake of President Tinubu’s six-week suspension of the four programmes under the National Social Investment Programmes Agency (NSIPA).
In line with the suspension, the panel will reassess the programmes and propose detailed modifications to enhance their implementation procedures. Other members of the presidential panel include the Coordinating Minister of Health and Social Welfare, Ali Pate; the Minister of Budget and Economic Planning, Atiku Bagudu; the Minister of Information and National Orientation, Idris Mohammed; the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, Bosun Tijani; and the Minister of State for Youth.
The President anticipates that the Special Presidential Panel will restore lost public confidence in these vital programmes, ushering in a new era of open, accountable governance and improved frameworks.
President Tinubu’s decision to suspend NSIPA-related activities followed revelations of a financial scandal in the management of the programmes, and he directed a comprehensive investigation into all NSIPA-related operations, events, payments, collaborations, and registrations.