The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Nigeria’s Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) have begun moves to investigate alleged diversion and mismanagement of funds provided under United States Agency for International Development (USAID)-supported programmes in Nigeria.
The investigation will focus particularly on organisations that received funding for HIV and tuberculosis interventions before some of the programmes were shut down by the United States government in 2025.
The EFCC said the development followed a visit by an FBI delegation led by Marcus Maccain, Assistant Law Enforcement Attaché, to the commission’s Lagos Zonal Directorate 2. The meeting focused on strengthening cooperation, intelligence sharing and joint investigations into suspected financial irregularities.
Maccain said the FBI was interested in determining how funds were managed after the affected programmes were discontinued.
“We are seeking stronger engagement with the EFCC to establish how the funds were managed and identify possible financial misconduct arising from the termination of the programmes,” he said.
Jeremy Kennon, a Special Agent with the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Inspector General, said reviews had identified concerns including inflated budgets in Kano State and other parts of Nigeria. He stressed that the concerns were not limited to Nigeria, noting that similar issues had emerged in other countries.
The development is significant because USAID-funded health programmes have supported critical interventions, including HIV and tuberculosis treatment, making accountability for donor funds important to the continuity and credibility of such programmes.
Responding to the delegation, EFCC official Bawa Usman Kaltungo assured investigators that the commission would trace the movement of the funds and determine whether they were used for their intended purposes or diverted.
The probe comes amid increased scrutiny of the management of U.S.-funded assistance following the shutdown of several USAID programmes. The FBI and EFCC said their collaboration would involve information sharing and financial tracing as investigators work to establish the facts surrounding the alleged irregularities.
