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By Samuel Egburonu
Human rights lawyer, Femi Falana, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria, SAN, has scored another plus as he called on the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to investigate the alleged failure of the Federal Government of Nigeria “to account for N33.75 billion earmarked for cash transfers to vulnerable or poor Nigerians.”
It has, for years now, remained one of the most shameful realities of our country that some of the most lucrative ministries or agencies for corrupt government officials have remained ministries or agencies officially set up to cater for the humanitarian needs of the poor, the hungry and the internally displaced victims of our society.
You will shed real hot tears if you witness the passion with which government officials lobby to be posted to such ministries and agencies, and if you know that the passion is not borne out of love to help the poor but to steal from the helpless needy.
It has become an open secret that the billions of naira constantly voted for disbursement to poor and hungry Nigerians through these ministries and agencies, do not get to them.
Yes, at every seminar or official outing, government officials gleefully quote billions of naira allegedly used to take care of the Nigerian poor.
But we all know it has always been and has remained a wicked joke, a lie no one is really ashamed of or ready to fight against.
This is why Falana’s latest advocacy, in the interest of the poor citizens, is worthy of our commendationhere.
Falana, who chairs the Alliance on Surviving COVID-19 and Beyond (ASCAB), did not only raise that alarm but urged EFCC, Nigeria’s anti- graft agency, to collaborate with the Auditor-General of the Federation (AuGF) to recover the funds if investigations establish they were diverted.
Falana made this call in a statement on Sunday, following concerns raised in the Auditor-General’s 2024 Annual Report on Non-Compliance/Internal Control Weaknesses in Ministries, Departments and Agencies of the Federal Government.
According to the report, “the Federal Government was unable to provide adequate evidence showing that N33.75 billion in cash transfers reached the intended beneficiaries.”
According to Falana, “the funds were meant to support more than 3.29 million vulnerable households under the National Social Investment Programme.”
He described the situation as “particularly disturbing given measures introduced by the government to improve beneficiary tracking and prevent the inclusion of fictitious beneficiaries in the social intervention programmes.
“The National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA), established under the NSIPA Act 2022, oversees major federal social intervention schemes, including N-Power, the National Home-Grown School Feeding Programme, the National Cash Transfer Programme and the National Social Safety Net Programme.”
As Falana noted, NSIPA and its predecessor agencies had faced several allegations of financial impropriety involving government officials.”
He recalled that former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadiya Umar Farouq, was investigated by the EFCC over alleged money laundering involving more than N37.1 billion.
He also referred to the suspension of former Humanitarian Affairs Minister, Betta Edu, in December 2023 following a directive involving the transfer of N585 million in public intervention funds to a private bank account.
Falana further recalled that the former National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of NSIPA, Halima Shehu, was suspended and questioned over alleged suspicious financial transactions.
He called on the EFCC to conclude investigations into the various allegations and to make the results of its findings public.
“The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission should liaise with the Auditor-General of the Federation with a view to recovering the missing N33.75 billion,” Falana said.
He also called for the immediate investigation of what he described as a serious allegation involving the possible diversion of funds meant for poor and vulnerable Nigerians.
“All the characters involved in the shameful conduct should be arrested and prosecuted without any delay,” he said.
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I totally agree with this Learned Silk. The point is that cheats in humanitarian ministries and agencies in Nigeria should be singled out and delt with for the damage they have so far done to Nigerian governments and to the people can no longer be easily quantified.
It is wicked enough to steal public resources put in the care of an individual. But when that public resource is specifically meant to be used to save the lives of dying, hungry and poor elements in the society, it is obviously inhuman for the rich elements put in trust of such funds to be the same thieves that would so callously appropriate the public resources. This explains why we must take this particular betrayal more seriously.
In my view, our laws should specifically provide for exemplary punishment in such circumstances to at least discourage this level of inhumanity and wickedness against Nigeria and against her people.
It must be stated here that the current Nigerian government has not done well enough to convince the people it is not actually behind the grand scheme of ripping off the poor in this fashion.
For example, Falana also expressed “concern over the implementation of a $3.05 billion development programme unveiled by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in July 2026.”
Reports said the “package, backed by the World Bank, is designed to support poverty reduction, human capital development and expanded economic opportunities.”
Falana “urged the Federal Government to strengthen accountability measures to ensure that funds allocated for poverty reduction reach their intended beneficiaries.”
He also proposed the establishment of an independent monitoring body comprising credible civil society organisations to oversee the disbursement and implementation of the development funds.
He pointed out that “stronger oversight was necessary to prevent public officials from misappropriating resources intended to assist Nigerians living in poverty and other vulnerable groups.”
Falana’s concerns here are easy to understand or appreciate for the bitter image of hungry Nigerians bursting open rice-filled locked warehouses during the recent protests against hunger in Nigeria is still vivid in people’s memories.
Untill today, it is still difficult to fully understand why well fed politicians and top civil servants would collaborate to hide in huge warehouses food and other humanitarian provisions meant for dying citizens and watch them die slowly while government continue to claim it has adequately provided for the people?
The question that still remains unanswered is whether the action of hiding the food was meant to starve the people to death or to portray the government as wicked?
The deepest puzzle to me remains why the government, after discovery of the grand betrayal, would allow it’s officials who stole or tried to steal so heartlessly from the poor, to go home unpunished after presenting the government as uncaring and unperforming?
It would be necessary for all of us to consider what kind of message such a government would be leaving behind?
Or is it that nobody in Aso Rock really bothers about these concerns?
As would be expected from everything Nigerian, it may be more realistic to expect that many experts will soon offer their services to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Federal Government to help fault Falana’s current advocacy.
They will advice Mr President not to allow his political opponents to portray his government in bad light ahead of 2027 Presidential Election.
That has always been the pattern. May I however advice President Tinubu not to be deceived by such jaundiced advice for it can never be in his interest and in the interest of his government if all the billions claims he has voted for the feeding of Nigerian poor and the vulnerable have always been diverted by theives that claim to be working for him and for his government.
So, as Falana suggested, time has come for EFCC to truly investigate the reports of such callous diversions and to make the results of the investigations public.
If this is done now and before 2027 Elections, it will expose the real theives and benefit all of us common Nigerians
• Samuel Hezekiah Egburonu Esq, A Veteran Journalist And Lawyer Is A Public Affairs Analyst
