Reps order investigation into ₦30bn recovered from NSIPA

The House of Representatives has raised concerns over the continued withholding of billions of naira recovered from the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), warning that the delay is crippling federal poverty-alleviation efforts and denying support to millions of vulnerable Nigerians.

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The concerns followed a motion of urgent public importance moved by Saidu Abdullahi (APC, Niger) during Tuesday’s plenary.

Moving the motion, Mr Abdullahi stressed that NSIPA serves as the central coordinating body for the federal government’s flagship social protection schemes.

These include the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP), the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), and the Grant for Vulnerable Groups (GVG).

He explained that these interventions were created to provide direct support to poor households, boost school nutrition and enrolment, improve financial inclusion, expand livelihood opportunities for small-scale entrepreneurs and stabilise Nigeria’s socio-economic environment.

Mr Abdullahi recalled that on 8 January 2024, President Bola Tinubu suspended NSIPA operations for six weeks to allow for a comprehensive investigation into alleged financial malpractices within the agency. This step, he said, was taken to reinforce accountability and transparency in the management of public funds channelled toward poverty relief.

Following the suspension, he noted that multiple security and anti-corruption agencies launched investigations that reportedly led to the tracing, freezing and recovery of substantial sums held by commercial banks and payment service providers.

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The recovered funds were said to include money allocated for critical components of NSIP, such as TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and the Grant for Vulnerable Groups. These programmes, he noted, are essential to the Federal Government’s Renewed Hope Agenda, which prioritises support for low-income households, women, farmers and micro-businesses.

“The investigation resulted in the tracing, freezing, and recovery of substantial public funds belonging to the Agency from deposit money banks and payment service providers, including funds appropriated for TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and the Grant for Vulnerable Groups, which are programmes central to the renewal of agenda’s commitment to supporting households, country traders, women, farmers, and vulnerable Nigerians,” he said.

However, despite the successful recovery operations, Mr Abdullahi expressed deep concern that credible intelligence suggests that more than N30bn recovered during the investigation has not been remitted into a designated Treasury Single Account (TSA).

He warned that the failure to release these funds has crippled ongoing social interventions, leaving millions of intended beneficiaries without the economic relief originally envisioned.

“Credible sources have indicated that this recovery fund is estimated at over N30 billion have not been remitted into a civil designated treasury single account, thereby stalling programme implementation and leaving millions of intended beneficiaries without the social and economic support envisioned by the federal government,” he said.

The lawmaker emphasised that the prolonged withholding of the funds is already undermining the federal government’s poverty-reduction agenda.

According to him, the delay has slowed down efforts to strengthen small-scale enterprises, deepened hardship in both rural and urban communities, disrupted planned economic stimulation at the local level and eroded public trust in the government’s commitment to social protection.

He further cautioned that the continued uncertainty surrounding the exact location of the recovered funds, the identity of the custodians and the nature of administrative decisions being taken concerning the monies creates additional doubts about transparency within the system. He described the situation as a threat to the integrity of government-led social support programmes.

In response to the motion, Deputy Speaker Benjamin Kalu, who presided over the plenary, announced that the House would set up an ad-hoc committee to investigate the total funds recovered from NSIPA between 2024 and 2025.

He stated that the names of the members of the committee would be announced soon, and assured that the investigation would help the House determine the status of the funds and ensure accountability in the management of the social intervention portfolio.

“We are going to be constituting another committee to investigate the total funds recovered from NSIPA during this period, 2024 to 2025,” Mr Kalu said.

The National Social Investment Programme

Nigeria’s National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) was launched in 2016 by former President Muhammadu Buhari as a structured response to rising poverty, unemployment and social vulnerability across the country.

It was introduced as part of a wider reform effort to ensure that government assistance reached the poorest Nigerians in a transparent, organised and sustainable manner.

Under NSIP, the government sought to address multi-dimensional poverty by improving access to food, education, credit, grants and temporary income support.

As the programme expanded, especially with the introduction of initiatives such as the school feeding scheme, the trader support funds, and household cash transfers, the need for a legally backed, centralised institution became more urgent. This led to the creation of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) in 2022 through an Act of the National Assembly.

The establishment of NSIPA was aimed at strengthening accountability, improving coordination among implementing units and ensuring that the social protection system became more reliable and effective.

NSIPA was mandated to manage the entire portfolio of social protection efforts.

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This included the trader and market empowerment schemes that offer non-interest financial support to small-scale traders, artisans and farmers; the home-grown school feeding programme, designed to provide daily nutritious meals for public primary school pupils while supporting local agricultural economies; the conditional cash transfers to extremely poor households; and the grants issued to vulnerable groups, especially women, persons with disabilities and low-income families.

The broad aim of these programmes was to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty, promote social stability and stimulate grassroots economic activity.