Bandit rats in our big budget By Lasisi Olagunju
On 9 June, 2026, the Presidency announced that “President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has approved the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Ebola Virus Disease Preparedness and Emerging Public Health Threats and ordered the immediate release of ₦10 billion as emergency intervention funding.” You remember that statement? Today is 20 July. Thank God there has been no Ebola outbreak. But where is the ₦10 billion? Spent? Unspent? Where is it? A voice told me that the President and his Presidency are very straightforward in money matters. They will explain. We should not be too much in a hurry. I watched a guest and his host discuss the scandal of the PFIPC, the popular 'fictitious' federal agency, on an Arise Television programme two Tuesdays ago. They agreed that there might be more than the PFIPC ghost in the Government of Nigeria. “When you see one rat in your house, begin a thorough search,” the guest said while answering a question. “That is true. Rats do not live alone; they ...