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These days, stories on fraud do not really impress Nigerian readers. Frauds have become a part of our political culture and acts of fraud do not surprise people anymore. What surprises is when no fraud is committed where it ought to have been committed. It is as bad as that.

Even in the newsrooms, fraud stories are becoming less the favourite of editors. People seem to be getting tired of such stories. But we couldn’t resist giving this week’s fraud story in some Non-Governmental Organisations, NGOs a cover treatment.

The total amount of money involved is not much if we were to take into account standards already set in the country’s growing industry of financial fraud. It is just a little over one billion Naira, an amount which some people in very “rewarding” public offices can afford to carry about in their car boots regularly just in case the need to settle some urgent bills arise.

The Newswatch cover story this week on fraud concerns very well known Non-Governmental Organisations in Nigeria – Yakubu Gowon Centre, National Agency for the Control of AIDS, NACA and Christian Heath Association of Nigeria, CHAN. It is based on the audit probe on the activities of such organisations funded by foreign donor agencies. The report shows that these three organisation are guilty of misappropriation of funds meant to promote the general good of Nigerians and have been “sentenced” to various degrees of punishment.

The case of the Yakubu Gowon Centre is the worst. In fact, the centre got involved in foreign exchange business using money meant for the fight against malaria – the worst killer disease in the country. The cases of the others are only slightly better. Our story which we have called: Non-Governmental Thieves – How Gowon Centre, NACA, Other NGOs Fleece Foreign Donors – paints a graphic picture of the frauds committed by these agencies between 2003 and 2009 and the punishment meted out to them. It was written by Tobs Agbaegbu, our Abuja Bureau chief.