Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to remit 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 made the demand in a public statement issued on August 24, 2025, under the platform of the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), which he chairs.
He recalled that in January 2025, President Bola Tinubu approved N32.7 billion for the implementation of the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), covering initiatives such as school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and support for small businesses under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
According to him, although the EFCC successfully recovered the same amount N32.7 billion, alongside $445,000 from allegedly corrupt ministry officials, the funds have not yet been redirected to NSIPA, contrary to the Commission’s stated policy of returning recovered funds to their designated purposes.
“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,” Falana said.
He also called on all levels of government- federal, state, and local to increase their contributions to NSIP, citing a surge in government revenues.
Falana pointed out that the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed N2.001 trillion in July 2025 from a gross revenue of N3.836 trillion, and N1.8 trillion in June. He argued that such figures should translate into more robust investment in social protection programmes, not symbolic gestures.
“Governments must go beyond lip service and invest meaningfully in social protection programmes. They must put their money where their mouth is,” he concluded.
His remarks come amid growing public demand for transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social welfare funds, especially in the wake of high-profile corruption scandals tied to programmes meant for the vulnerable.
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