Yahaya Idris, Lafia.
Nasarawa State Social Investment programme (NSSIP) Office, has announced that Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development has kicked off the final payment of the arrears on the few outstanding allowances of Batch A and B N-power volunteers.
The Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq who announced the commencement of the payment via Permanent Secretary of the ministry, Mr Bashir Nura Alkali said the accounts of 14,021 volunteers were flagged off in March 2020 by the Federal Government payment system, the Government Integrated Financial Management Information System (GIFMIS), for various reasons including but not limited to beneficiaries having multiple accounts, and beneficiaries account receiving other payments such as salaries and allowances from multiple Federal Government Ministries, Department and Agencies (MDAs) on permanent employment or for participating in other schemes.
In a press release signed by the Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to Governor Abdullahi Sule and the state Focal Focal person for the programme, Imran Usman Jibrin, said such fraudulent acts violate the regulations guiding the N-Power volunteer programme and could amount to gross misconduct and corruption.
The Focal Person warned that where such clear violations of the agreements are established, such violators will be subjected to appropriate sanctions as stipulated by the law.
The statement furthet explained that ” while expressing regrets over the challenges faced by the ministry in the processing of the outstanding allowances, the Minister divulged that the accounts of 9,066 volunteers were cleared for final payment of N150,000 each for a period of five months while the allowances of the 4,955 accounts are withheld pending the conclusion of further investigation.
“As it has reliably kept up with, the investigation carried out by the ministry is to the greatest advantage of the Nation and has the significant objective of organizing National Social Investment Programme (NSIP) and guaranteeing its productive administration in accordance with Mr President’s purpose to guarantee transparency and accountability in its execution consistently.
” The Ministry laments the defers experienced in finishing up this process, yet guarantees the public that transparency and accountability
can’t be compromised in the entirety of its exercises.”
The Focal person therefore congratulated the participants and wished them the best in their endeavours.
