Falana urges EFCC to transfer recovered N32.7bn, $445,000 to social investment agency
Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to transfer N32.7 billion and $445,000 recovered from officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA).
Falana, in a statement issued on Sunday under the platform of the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), said the funds should be redirected for their intended purpose of alleviating poverty through initiatives such as school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
He recalled that President Bola Tinubu had in January approved N32.7 billion for the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP). The EFCC, he noted, recovered the same sum alongside $445,000 from allegedly corrupt officials of the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, but the money is yet to be transferred to the agency.
While commending the EFCC’s recovery efforts, Falana urged the commission to also recover the outstanding N20 billion still unaccounted for. He stressed that redirecting the recovered funds to NSIPA was crucial to supporting the over 133 million Nigerians living in multi-dimensional poverty.
The rights activist also challenged federal, state, and local governments to scale up contributions to the NSIP in light of rising national revenues. He cited the Federation Account Allocation Committee’s disbursement of N2.001 trillion in July and N1.8 trillion in June, insisting such windfalls should be reflected in meaningful social investments.
“Governments must go beyond lip service and invest meaningfully in social protection programmes. They must put their money where their mouth is,” Falana said.
His remarks come amid growing public demand for transparency and accountability in the management of welfare schemes following high-profile corruption scandals in the sector.
