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Femi Falana, SAN, eminent legal luminary
Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to transfer the sum of 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) for proper use.
Falana made the call in a public statement issued on August 24, 2025, under the banner 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), which includes school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and small business support under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
He noted that while the EFCC had earlier recovered the exact sum of N32.7 billion and an additional $445,000 from allegedly corrupt officials within the Humanitarian Affairs Ministry, the funds are yet to be redirected to the NSIPA—despite the EFCC’s stated policy of ensuring that recovered funds are returned for their intended 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 stated.
He also called on all tiers of government—federal, state, and local—to scale up their contributions to the NSIP in light of the significant rise in government revenues.
According to him, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared N2.001 trillion in July 2025 from a gross total of N3.836 trillion, and N1.8 trillion in June 2025. He urged that these increased revenues be reflected in enhanced social investment rather than mere tokenism.
“Governments must go beyond lip service and invest meaningfully in social protection programmes. They must put their money where their mouth is,” he concluded.
Falana’s remarks come amid widespread calls for transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social welfare schemes, especially following high-profile corruption cases linked to funds meant for the poor. (Sunday Vanguard)
