•Debates constitution amendment bills today
To ensure the well-being of the citizenry, the House of Representatives has moved to track more than N30 billion recovered during the Federal Government’s 2024–2025 investigation into alleged financial infractions at the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Also, the Green Chamber will open debate today on a wide range of constitution amendment bills as part of the ongoing review of the 1999 Constitution.
Lawmakers during plenary, presided over by the Deputy Speaker, Benjamin Kalu, yesterday, warned that the continued withholding of funds was crippling many poverty-alleviation initiatives across the country.
This followed the adoption of a motion sponsored by Saidu Abdullahi (Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency, Niger State), who raised serious concerns over the fate of funds recovered from Deposit Money Banks (DMBs) and Payment Service Providers (PSPs), including allocations for TraderMoni, MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and Grants for Vulnerable Groups.
Abdullahi reminded his colleagues that President Bola Tinubu had, on January 8, 2024, suspended NSIPA operations to allow for a sweeping investigation into alleged financial misconduct.
The investigation reportedly uncovered and froze billions of naira belonging to the agency. Despite the President lifting the suspension on January 21, 2025, NSIPA has been unable to resume full operation because the recovered funds have allegedly not been remitted to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).
The lawmaker warned that the delay in releasing the funds threatens the core pillars of the Renewed Hope Agenda, slowing down poverty-reduction programmes, crippling small-scale enterprises, worsening hardship in rural and urban areas, and eroding public confidence in government-led social protection efforts.
“Millions of vulnerable Nigerians who depend on these interventions are being exposed to prolonged socio-economic distress,” he said, stressing that uncertainty over the custodial status of the funds poses “serious fiscal and institutional risks.”
The House expressed deep concern that the social investment programmes – designed to support vulnerable households, petty traders, farmers, schoolchildren and low-income women – remain stalled despite the conclusion of the government-ordered investigation.
The House, therefore, resolved to constitute an ad hoc committee to investigate the total funds recovered from NSIPA, determine their current location, identify those holding them, and establish the reasons for the delay in their release.
The committee is also mandated to engage all relevant agencies and secure a clear implementation and disbursement plan from NSIPA on how the funds would be utilised once released.
It is expected to report back to the House within four weeks for further legislative action, as lawmakers push to fast-track the restart of the social intervention schemes and deliver urgent relief to millions of Nigerians.
THE Deputy Speaker, who chairs the House Committee on Constitution Review, announced at plenary, yesterday, that lawmakers would devote today and tomorrow to deliberations on the proposals, ahead of voting on December 10 and 11.
According to him, the debate marks a critical phase in the legislature’s efforts to update key aspects of the nation’s governance framework.
Eighty-seven bills are before the House, covering far-reaching reforms across the electoral system, the judiciary, fiscal federalism and security architecture.
Some of the prominent proposals include the creation of additional seats for women in parliament, the establishment of state police, the creation of new states and local councils, and the granting of full financial and administrative autonomy to local councils.
