The House of Representatives passed a resolution on Thursday urging the federal government to resume the suspended National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) initiatives.

The resolution followed a motion by Muktar Zakari from Kaduna state.

President Bola Tinubu had suspended NSIPA programs, including school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and the government enterprise and empowerment programme, on January 12 due to alleged irregularities. This followed the suspension of NSIPA CEO Halima Shehu and Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation Betta Edu over financial malfeasance.

Zakari emphasized that the suspension of the school feeding program negatively impacts school enrollment, attendance, and children’s health and cognitive development. He argued that while addressing program challenges is important, a complete suspension causes more harm, including increased out-of-school children, higher crime rates, insecurity, and unemployment.