Osinbajo not involved in disbursing SIP funds ― NSIO

National Social Investment Office (NSIO) says Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo was never involved in any financial transactions or disbursement of funds for the National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIPs).

“The funds allocated and released for the financing of the National Social Investment Programmes (N-SIPs) of the Buhari administration have been domiciled in the Ministry of Budget and National Planning from inception, and not in the Office of the Vice President or anywhere in the Presidency”, NSIO explained in a statement on Wednesday.

In a statement signed by Communications Manager, Justice Tienabeso Bibiye, NSIO said when President Muhammadu Buhari directed Osinbajo to oversee the schemes, he, in turn, instructed that, while the coordination of the scheme would be led by the Presidency through the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) under the Office of the Vice President (OVP), all matters regarding financing, budgeting, procurement and disbursement should be done by the Ministry of Budget and National Planning.

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In the statement aimed at clarifying “insinuations in some quarters regarding the amounts budgeted and released for N-SIPs, following media reports on the alleged involvement of the Vice President in financial matters” NSIO stated “the procurement and disbursement of funds for the N-SIPs have never been done in the Office of the Vice President.

“Indeed, the National Interbank Settlement System (NIBSS), being the custodian of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) server, supports the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) as its Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO) In that capacity, NIBSS has facilitated the authentication of the unique identities of all our beneficiaries, before payment.”

According to the statement, Bank of Industry (BOI) manages the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP) which provides collateral and interest-free financial support to businesses at the bottom of the financial pyramid, through its MarketMoni, FarmerMoni and TraderMoni schemes in a transparent payment process.

“The Vice President only goes round markets in the states where the TraderMoni scheme is launched to engage with beneficiaries, but he is not involved in the disbursement of loans, whether in cash or through cash transfers.

“Being much too poor to travel long distances to receive the monthly N5,000 disbursements, the decision was taken to ensure the funds are conveyed to them at their places of residence.

“Furthermore, in a departure from past experiences in similar programmes, whereby beneficiaries were selected in an opaque manner, this Administration’s Cash Transfer (CCT) beneficiaries are identified by members of the communities themselves, through a tripartite method, which includes technology, for objectively and scale”, it added.