The Federal Government announced on Tuesday that it has reactivated the temporarily halted social investment programme. The programme aims to offer direct financial support to 75 million individuals in 50 million households to alleviate the hardship faced by citizens, particularly those in vulnerable groups.
During the ministerial sectoral briefing in Abuja to commemorate the first year of the President Bola Tinubu administration, Wale Edun, the Minister of Finance and the Coordinating Minister of the Economy, made this announcement.
On January 12, Tinubu decided to temporarily halt all activities carried out by the National Social Investment Programme Agency for a period of six weeks. This action was taken in order to investigate suspected misconduct in the organisation’s management and operation of the programme.
The minister said, “I am duty-bound to give you an overview of the strategy, policies, and implementation of Mr President’s reform programme. Immediately upon assuming office, Mr President launched macroeconomic reforms to restore stability to the Nigerian economy, including subsidy reforms and foreign exchange market reforms. These reforms caused a spike in costs for individuals and businesses, but Mr President is committed to counterbalancing the negative effects with interventions across the social spectrum.
“The government has restarted the social investment program, providing direct payments to 75 million Nigerians in 50 million households. Access to credit has been improved, with N1bn allocated to consumer credit and grants of 50,000 Naira being given to 1 million nano industries.”
