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Nigeria's Buhari orders corruption probe over humanitarian funds
Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari speaks during his meeting with U.S. President Barack Obama at the United Nations General Assembly, September 20, 2016. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
19/04/2017
ABUJA (Reuters) - Nigeria's President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday ordered an investigation into corruption allegations against a senior civil servant related to the use of funds intended for handling a humanitarian crisis in the northeast of the country.
Buhari, who took office in May 2015 on promises to crack down on corruption, suspended David Babachir Lawal, secretary to the Nigerian government, and ordered a probe into contracts awarded under the Presidential Initiative on the North East (PINE).
PINE was set up to coordinate the government's response to the humanitarian crisis in the northeast, where 4.7 million people, many of them refugees from an Islamist insurgency waged by the Boko Haram militant group, need rations to survive.
A three-man committee is to submit its report to the president within 14 days, a statement issued by the president's spokesman said on Wednesday.
Reuters was not immediately able to reach Lawal for comment.
(Reporting by Felix Onuah; Writing by Alexis Akwagyiram; Editing by Gareth Jones)
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