Senior Advocate of Nigeria and human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, has called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to return the recently recovered N32.7 billion and $445,000 to the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) for proper utilization.
The funds, recovered from officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, were originally approved by the President for the National Social Investment Programme (NSIP), which covers school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and small business support under the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Programme (GEEP).
Falana, who chairs the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), commended the EFCC for its efforts but noted that the recovered funds have yet to be redirected to NSIPA, despite the Commission’s policy of returning monies to 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,” he said.
The lawyer further urged federal, state, and local governments to scale up contributions to the programme, stressing that social protection initiatives must be adequately funded rather than treated as token measures.
His remarks come amid growing calls for transparency and accountability in the management of Nigeria’s social welfare funds, following several high-profile corruption scandals in the sector.