Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to ensure that the recently recovered N32.7 billion and $445,000 from officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development are returned to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Falana, who chairs the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), emphasized that the funds were originally approved by the President for the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which includes school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and small business support under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
While commending the EFCC’s recovery efforts, Falana noted that the money has not yet been redirected to its rightful destination despite the Commission’s policy of returning recovered funds for their intended use.
“We commend the EFCC and urge it to intensify efforts to recover the outstanding N20 billion still unaccounted for. But more importantly, the recovered N32.7 billion and $445,000 should be transferred to the National Social Investment Programme Agency to help alleviate the hardship faced by over 133 million multi-dimensionally poor Nigerians,” he stated.
Falana further urged federal, state, and local governments to increase their contributions to social protection initiatives, especially in light of rising government revenue. He argued that such programmes must be properly funded rather than treated as token gestures.
His call comes amid growing public concern over transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social welfare funds, following several corruption scandals in the sector.
