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“Osinbajo does not disburse money for social investment programs”, top aide reveals as presidency war continues

The presidency cabal attempts to frame Osinbajo for corruption, in the latest twist to a presidency drama that has engulfed an entire nation for weeks.

Osinbajo speaks with a market woman in Lagos circa 2018 (Presidency)

Justice Tienabeso Bibiye, Communications Manager of the National Social Investment Office (NSIO) has told Pulse that the “Office of the Vice President is not involved in financial transactions or the disbursement of funds for the Buhari administration’s National Social Investment Programmes (NSIP).”

Pulse has been reporting the intrigues and power play in the presidency and the alleged gradual whittling of Vice President Yemi Osinbajo’s immense powers by President Muhammadu Buhari.

Pulse has also reported that some of the agencies domiciled in the office of the vice president could soon be taken from his purview; and that the critically acclaimed Social Investment Program (SIP) which has been supervised by Osinbajo and heralded as his brain-child throughout the first term of the Buhari administration, could be moved to another ministry in the next couple of days, as relations between Osinbajo and Buhari appear to head increasingly south by the day.

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The SIP comprises the N-Power, Conditional Cash Transfers, National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme and Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme. 

There are allegations bordering on corruption against the office and person of Osinbajo, Pulse has also detailed. Osinbajo was the public face of the social programs and was often seen interacting with traders and doling out government handouts in markets and on street corners.

In a statement sent to Pulse, the NSIO says it has come out to clarify the extent of Osinbajo’s involvement with the NSIP “amidst 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. It can be categorically said that His Excellency, the VP Yemi Osinbajo has never been involved in any of such financial transactions.”

The NSIO added that: “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.

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“The decision was taken very early in the implementation of the N-SIPs when President Muhammadu Buhari asked Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, SAN, to oversee the schemes. The Vice President then 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.”

According to the NSIO, “the design of the N-SIP structure never envisaged the awarding of contracts by the NSIO. Consequently, 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. 

“The process adopted has been that the National Social investment Office merely provides the schedules of beneficiaries, comprising their names and banking details, to the Ministry of Budget and National Planning, who, as custodian of the funds, transmits the amounts slated, depending on the programme needs, directly to the beneficiary accounts, through the NIBSS.

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NSIO tells Pulse that the steering committee that supervises the social investment programme comprises 9 ministries and that Osinbajo has never acted alone on the project.

“The Steering Committee for the NSIO, chaired by the Vice President, supervises the implementation of the SIPs, The Steering Committee comprises 9 Ministers, including that of Finance; Education; Health; Agriculture, Trade and Investment, Youth and Sports, Women Affairs; Labour and Productivity; Information; with the Ministry of Budget and National Planning as the Secretariat. The Steering Committee meets regularly for updates, to review, advise, guide and approve the processes of the N-SIPs.

“The NSIO has continued to prioritize transparency in disbursements. It has also ensured a level-playing field for all the beneficiaries, collated data and verified identities of beneficiaries of the different schemes, through a close collaboration with relevant agencies of government.

“All payments on the programmes are transferred directly to beneficiaries from the Federal Government coffers. The only exception is in relation to the cash transfer programme, basically because the beneficiaries reside in areas where there is a dearth of banking infrastructure. 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.

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“Furthermore, in 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," Pulse was told.

Top ranking sources in the vice president’s office continue to tell Pulse that the infamous cabal in the presidency has perfected a plot that would see to the sufficient whittling of Osinbajo’s powers until he becomes no better than a lame-duck in the nation’s seat of power and in the larger scheme of things.

Official presidency spokespersons have declined commenting on the developments at the Villa thus far, because they haven't been granted permission to speak on the subject just yet. 

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