Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
The Federal Government’s National Social Investment Office (NSIO) in collaboration with the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences Commission (ICPC) is set to flag off a toll-free whistle blower hotline to checkmate corruption in school feeding programme and truancy in the N-Power scheme.
The programme was recently transferred from the office of the vice president where it had been domiciled since its inception in 2016 to the newly created Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
The Muhammadu Buhari administration introduced the SIPs in 2016. The programmes include N-Power, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme (NHGSFP), National Cash Transfer Project (NCTP), and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
The launch will be done the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouk, according to a statement by NSIP Communications Manager, Tienabeso Bibiye.
The launch of the Toll-Free Whistle blower Hotline 0800- Call-ICPC (0800 -22554272) will be on Friday at an open event scheduled to hold at the State House Auditorium, Abuja. The decision followed recent field reports that border on extortion of cash transfer to beneficiaries and cooks on the school feeding programme, as well as reported cases of truancy on the part of Some N-Power beneficiaries.
Bibiye said these have compelled the need for close monitoring of the various components of the SIPs to achieve the intended objectives.
The NSIP Communications Manager, said the event which aims to identify, curb and address corrupt tendencies in the Programme, is part of government’s commitment to unwavering quest to ensure the Social Protection Programme is executed in an open, accountable and transparent manner and in line with the Zero Tolerance For Corruption Stance of the administration.
Bibiye also explained that the latest collaborative effort between the NSIO and ICPC is to further tighten all loose ends, to effectively checkmate acts that tend to undermine the strident efforts of the Federal Government to alleviate poverty in the country.