• Not all crypto users are criminals, says Reps panel
• Probes $4.6b health grants from Global Fund, USAID
Deputy Spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Philip Agbese, has said the prompt intervention of President Bola Tinubu averted a major crisis within the National Assembly following growing disquiet over delays in the release of funds for 2024 capital projects and the slow commencement of the 2025 budget financing.
This was as the Chairman of the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee on the Economic, Regulatory and Security Implications of Cryptocurrency Adoption and Point-of-Sale (PoS) Operations, Olufemi Bamisile, faulted the notion that Nigerians with crypto wallets are criminals.
However, the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, yesterday, inaugurated an investigative hearing to probe the over $1.8 billion and $2.8 billion grants received by Nigeria from the Global Fund and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) between 2021 and 2025 for the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria, as well as for strengthening health systems.
Agbese, who spoke with reporters yesterday, described the preceding days as “challenging but instructive”, noting that tensions had significantly eased after the House leadership under the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, took steps to engage the Presidency and reassure restive lawmakers.
He explained that the agitation was triggered by widespread complaints over stalled constituency projects and the non-payment of indigenous contractors, who had executed the 2024 capital projects but had yet to receive their funds.
According to him, the situation worsened last week when hundreds of members of the All Indigenous Contractors Association of Nigeria (AICAN) barricaded the main gate of the National Assembly in protest, disrupting vehicular movement around the complex.
“The protest reflected the financial strain many of these contractors are facing. Some claimed they had sold assets or shut down their companies due to delayed payment,” Agbese said. “The House took these grievances seriously and swiftly engaged the Executive to prevent further escalation.”
He disclosed that following the intervention of the Speaker and principal officers, President Bola Tinubu directed the Minister of Finance, Wale Edun, and the Accountant-General of the Federation, Shamseldeen Ogunjimi, to begin immediate payments.
Some contractors, he added, have since confirmed receipt of payments, a development that, he stressed, helped calm frayed nerves at the legislature.
Agbese praised the Speaker’s leadership style, saying lawmakers remained united behind him and committed to advancing the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.
SPEAKING at a landmark engagement with cryptocurrency operators, blockchain associations and fintech innovators at the National Assembly Complex, Abuja, Bamisile stressed the urgent need for legal frameworks that promote innovation while safeguarding security and financial integrity.
“Nigeria cannot lag in the digital economy,” he said, urging law enforcement agencies, including the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), to develop technical expertise to distinguish innovation from fraud.
“Not every young Nigerian with a crypto wallet is a criminal,” he stressed. The committee chairman warned against stifling innovation, calling for phased taxation, incentives for compliance, and the development of locally built regulatory technology to protect monetary sovereignty and prevent the sector from going underground.
CHAIRMAN of the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, Amobi Ogah, said the probe was essential to determine how the huge grants had been utilised and to ensure accountability in the management of funds aimed at tackling infectious diseases ravaging Nigerians.
Ogah recalled that the House had, during plenary on October 21, 2025, mandated the then Committee on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria Control (ATM) to investigate the matter.
He commended Abbas and the House leadership for renaming and expanding the committee’s mandate to the House Committee on Infectious Diseases, reflecting a broader focus on public health threats.
“Nigeria continues to be battered by the ill effects of a greater burden of HIV, tuberculosis, malaria and other numerous infectious diseases. It appears that while budgetary allocations and donor funds are mobilised for the response against these health challenges, there is no reprieve in sight as Nigerians are ravaged daily,” Ogah said.
He warned that Nigeria would no longer accept being a “mere spectator” in the management of grants given to it, insisting that donor funds must henceforth be managed in line with Nigeria’s priorities.
