Discontinue N-Power, Other Social Intervention Initiatives Effiong Tells FG
The Federal Government has been requested by attorney Inibehe Effiong to discontinue N-Power and other social intervention initiatives run by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation.
While speaking about the scandal surrounding beleaguered minister Betta Edu—who was suspended due to suspected financial misconduct—Effiong, a guest on Channels Television’s The Morning Brief on Monday, made the demand.
Effiong claims that the social intervention initiatives put in place by the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs have not in any way assisted in lifting the impoverished people of Nigeria out of poverty.
“We have been hearing of N-Power over the years. We have now seen that the government is saying that they want to spend N3 billion to audit the social register which is scandalous. What are you spending N3 billion to audit? It’s embarrassing, some of the things we hear in this country.
“So, I am saying that these social intervention schemes or programmes should be scrapped. It has not altered the poverty ratio in the country, it has not had any effect on inflation, it does not improve the purchasing power of the Nigerian people, let us scrap it completely,” Effiong said.
In an effort to promote accountability and transparency, the attorney further urged the government to release a list of all National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) recipients.
He stated that there is no justification for recalling the suspended minister, despite the demands of many of her fans, if the administration is unable to provide the beneficiaries of these initiatives.
“I am putting a challenge today and I hope the EFCC will answer this question because it is not enough to say let us recall her. Who are the beneficiaries? And I am biased a bit because my own state is mentioned, that millions were going to go to some indigent people in Akwa Ibom, some to Cross River, Lagos and Ogun states.
“Who are those going to be the final beneficiaries of this money? If at the end of the investigation the EFCC cannot answer this question with the identities of these persons, their accounts, their residences, there will be no basis to recall her (Edu),” he said.
Due to accusations of corruption, President Bola Tinubu has dismissed Edu and Halima Shehu, the chief executive officer of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
The President also put a stop to all of the Agency’s managed programs, including the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program, the N-Power Program, the Conditional Cash Transfer Program, and the Home Grown School Feeding Program.
Anti-graft agencies are presently investigating Shehu, Edu, and her predecessor, Sadiya Umar-Farouq, about billions purportedly embezzled in the humanitarian ministry.
