Beyond Suspending Edu, Overhaul Social Intervention programmes, CORN tells Tinubu

Kemi Olaitan in Ibadan

The Director, Conflict Research Network West Africa (CORN),  Dr. Tarila Marclint Ebiede, yesterday, called on President Bola Tinubu, to go beyond the suspension of the Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation, Dr. Betta Edu, and completely overhaul the country’s social protection architecture.

Ebiede, who lauded the president for promptly suspending the minister, recalled that the organisation had warned the president to be more vigilant on his social protection programmes as they were at the risk of being hijacked by politicians.

The CORN boss in a release, asked President Tinubu to  digitalise the cash transfer programmes and strengthen accountability mechanisms in all social protection programmes being implemented by the federal government and its agencies.

He also called on international development partners and private sector investing in social protection in the country to commit to strengthening social protection institutions by focusing on supporting state institutions with social protection mandates to deliver to the most vulnerable.

According to him, President Bola Tinubu needed “to revisit the 2017 National Social Protection Policy (NSPP), including subsequent revisions in 2021, anchored in the Ministry of National Planning with the objective of ensuring policy coordination and coherence between the different federal government agencies involved in delivering the social protection objectives of the federal government.

Ebiede specifically urged Tinubu to set up a framework within the federal government to ensure that all ministries, agencies and parastatals with a social protection mandate were working in a coherent and coordinated manner towards a shared objective  of “promoting social justice, equity and inclusive productive growth” and “addressing poverty, unemployment, social and economic vulnerabilities, inequality, exclusion and other threats to sustainable development.”

Ebiede noted that the failure of the ministry to achieve its mandate would undermine peace building and worsen insecurity in the country as the number of vulnerable persons is increasing.

“The allegations against the suspended Minister for Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation validate the findings and arguments made by researchers at CORN’s Conference on Social Protection in Fragile and Conflict affected Societies in Nigeria.

“The need for effective, efficient, and transparent management of resources allocated to the ministry to achieve its mandate cannot be overemphasised.”