Femi Falana has asked the EFCC to return N32.7bn and $445,000 to Nigeria’s social program.
He said the funds must support school feeding, N-Power, and cash transfer initiatives for the poor.
Human rights lawyer and Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Femi Falana, has urged the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to return N32.7 billion and $445,000 recently recovered from officials of the Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management, and Social Development to the National Social Investment Program Agency (NSIPA).
Falana, who also chairs the Alliance on Surviving Covid-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), argued that the recovered funds were initially approved by the President for the National Social Investment Program (NSIP).
The program covers initiatives such as school feeding, N-Power, conditional cash transfers, and the Government Enterprise and Empowerment Program (GEEP), targeted at supporting small businesses.
While commending the EFCC for its recovery efforts, Falana expressed concern that the funds had not yet been redirected to NSIPA, despite the Commission’s policy of returning looted funds to their intended use.
“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 Program Agency to help alleviate the hardship faced by over 133 million multidimensionally poor Nigerians,” he said.
Falana further urged federal, state, and local governments to increase their contributions to social protection initiatives, stressing that recent growth in government revenue should translate into meaningful welfare spending rather than token programs.
