Prominent human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Femi Falana, has called on 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, who chairs the civil society coalition Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), made the appeal in a public statement issued on Sunday.
He emphasized that the recovered funds were originally approved by President Bola Tinubu for the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which includes initiatives such as school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and small business support under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
Despite the EFCC’s recovery of the full amount and an additional $445,000, Falana noted that the funds have yet to be redirected to NSIPA, contrary to the Commission’s stated policy of returning recovered assets to their intended purposes.
“We commend the EFCC and urge it to intensify efforts to recover the outstanding N20 billion still unaccounted for,” Falana said.
“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 also urged federal, state, and local governments to increase their contributions to the NSIP, citing recent surges in government revenue.
He pointed to the Federation Account Allocation Committee’s disbursement of N2.001 trillion in July 2025 and N1.8 trillion in June as evidence of fiscal capacity to support meaningful social protection.
His remarks come amid heightened public demand for transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social welfare funds, following a series of corruption scandals involving officials in the humanitarian sector.
