News From Nigeria
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the oil producing states in Nigeria over “their failure to account for the spending of the oil derivation refunds of N625bn recently paid to them by the Federal Government, including details and locations of projects executed with the money.”
The Federal Government recently paid N625.43 billion oil derivation refunds to the governors of Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Delta, Edo, Rivers, Ondo, Imo and Cross River states. The payments covered 13 percent oil derivation, subsidy, and SURE-P refunds. The refunds date from 1999 to 2021.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2371/2022 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the governors to disclose and widely publish the details of spending of the oil derivation refunds, subsidy, and SURE-P refunds.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “compel President Muhammadu Buhari to direct anti-corruption agencies to thoroughly investigate the spending of the public funds collected by the governors, and where appropriate, ensure the prosecution of suspected perpetrators of corruption, and the recovery of proceeds of corruption.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “The Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended], the Freedom of Information Act, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights impose transparency obligations on the governors to disclose the spending of the oil derivation refunds, subsidy, and SURE-P refunds.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “State governors cannot hide under the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable to their states. The governors also have clear legal obligations to provide the information, as prescribed by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
According to SERAP, “It is in the public interest and the interest of justice to grant this application. Nigerians are entitled to their constitutionally and internationally recognized human right to information.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “The constitutional principle of democracy provides a foundation for Nigerians’ right to know details of spending of public funds. Citizens’ right to know promotes openness, transparency, and accountability that is in turn crucial for the country’s democratic order.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “The public interest in obtaining the information about expenditures relating to the refunds outweighs any other interests. The oversight afforded by public access to such details would serve as an important check on the activities of the governors, and help to prevent abuses of the public trust.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Valentina Adegoke, read in part: “The Nigerian Constitution, Freedom of Information Act, and the country’s international obligations rest on the principle that citizens should have access to information regarding their government’s activities.”
“Disclosing details of the spending of the oil derivation refunds, subsidy and SURE-P refunds would allow Nigerians to scrutinise it, and to monitor the spending of the refunds to ensure that the money is not mismanaged, diverted or stolen.”
“The effective operation of representative democracy depends on the people being able to scrutinise, discuss and contribute to government decision making, including on the spending of the oil derivation refunds.”
“To do this, they need information to enable them to participate more effectively in the management of public funds by their state governments.”
“Publishing the details of the spending of the refunds would ensure that persons with public responsibilities are answerable to the people for the performance of their duties including the management of refunds.”
“The Freedom of Information Act, Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution, article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantee to everyone the right to information, including about how the oil derivation refunds are spent.
“By the combined reading of the provisions of the Constitution of Nigeria, the Freedom of Information Act 2011, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, applicable throughout Nigeria, there are transparency obligations imposed on the state governors to publish details of spending of the oil derivation refunds.”
“Under the 13 per cent derivation fund, Abia State received N4.8bn; Akwa-Ibom received N128bn; and Bayelsa got N92.2bn. Cross River got a refund of N1.3bn; Delta State received N110bn; Edo State received N11.3bn; Imo State, N5.5bn; Ondo State, N19.4bn; and Rivers State received 103.6bn.”
“On the 13 per cent derivation fund on deductions made by NNPC, Abia State received N1.1 billion; Akwa-Ibom, N15 billion; Bayelsa, N11.6 billion; Cross River, N432 million; Delta State, N14.8 billion; Edo State, N2.2 billion; and Imo State, N2.9, billion. Ondo State got N3.7 billion while N12.8 billion was paid to Rivers State.”
“The states also received N4.7 billion each, totalling N42.34 billion as refunds on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P from 2009 to 2015. The Federation Account also paid N3.52billion each as refund to local government councils on withdrawals for subsidy and SURE-P from 2009 to 2015.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
Kolawole Oluwadare
SERAP Deputy Director
1/1/2023
Lagos, Nigeria
Emails: info@serap-nigeria.org; news@serap-nigeria.org
Twitter: @SERAPNigeria
Website: www.serap-nigeria.org
For more information or to request an interview, please contact us on: +2348160537202
Today, I want to thank my creator, the Almighty God and to state unequivocally the very essence of my being a great believer and an advocate of truth, equity, justice and fairness in all my endeavours.
Equally, as a great believer in the age-long golden adage that says “a prophet is not appreciated in His own domain”, I owe this occasion to the honour recently accorded me by the fearless fighter and firm believer in fairness and justice, the Governor of Rivers State, His Excellency, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, who bestowed on me along other distinguished Nigerians, the highest honour of Rivers State.
I say I feel most appreciated for being considered worthy of such an important honour. Thank you, Your Excellency and May God always be your pilot.
I make bold to say that I remain firm in my commitment to the advocacy of the very core principle of the founding fathers of our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
This principle is called ‘rotation and zoning’, the very Foundation and Political Spinal Cord that has held our great party together since its formative hours in 1998.
This is what some of us refer to as ‘Turn by Turn Nigeria Limited’, a tradition of inclusiveness, deeply embedded and deep-rooted in the general concept of equity, fairness and justice.
This is boldly written in our party constitution and we are determined to defend this legacy left for us by Dr. Alex Ekwueme, Chief Solomon Lar, Alhaji Adamu Ciroma, Chief Sunday Awoniyi, Chief Bola Ige and other founding fathers of our great party.
My humble self and my co-travelers in the struggle for justice and fairness, the G5 governors, now called the Integrity Group, want to make it abundantly clear, without any equivocation, that we remain committed and loyal members of PDP, despite the present crisis.
In my recent address to the zonal committee of the party, I had reminded them in these words, “Zoning is the very glue that has invariably sustained the Nigerian democracy itself for 23 years. It is the architectural pillar holding the frame of our infant democracy. Embedded in the zoning logic is the truism of fairness, justice and collective accommodation”
Our disagreement is about the unilateral, selfish and subjective action of a few to sow a seed of discord which, if we are not careful, may lead to the disintegration of our great party.
Despite the ongoing inept attitude of the gladiators holding us down, we are ready and will, with all the strength we can muster, God helping us, support all the party’s candidates, except for the Presidency because the top party managers definitively refuse to share the six top positions before the general elections and not after election as being canvassed by these few people.
By insisting that the presidential candidate, national chairman and Director General of the Presidential Campaign Council of PDP should come from a particular section of the country, you are trying to destroy the culture and norms of the party in a nation with diverse ethnic groups and sectarian plurality, where the strong fiber of national union is still much tenuous, where suspicions still flare, where sectarian divide is yet volatile.
I make bold to say the recourse to the principle of zoning is the stop gap that induces a sense of belonging and unity among our people.
It creates a feeling that none will be elbowed out of our common patrimony. It guarantees that someday, power will shift in such a rotational order that every section of our multi-plural society will occupy a seat at the center.
There is no room here for wobbly, indecisive representation. Our position must be clear and not woolly. Our vision must be deliberate, assertive on the path of justice and truth. Personal interest must be discarded on the greater altar of national cohesion. The narrow partisan canvas must be jettisoned for the larger purity of the strengthening of the national union.
The greater summative interest of the Nigerian state is far superior to any recourse to ethnic corridor or sectarian pathway.
Ours is a potentially great nation. The building fundaments of a progressive society are achievable when we are willing to surrender the narrow purview of self-aggrandizement for the selfless embrace of the national good.
Our nation has not reached a stage where the indices of tribes and sectarian liaisons are completely voided from the political bearings. They are still there. Our structures are delicate, fragile, weak, flailing in the wind.
Stability is a graduating process. That very process is first to achieve a sense of inclusiveness. From the vast, sweeping Savannah of Sokoto to the mighty shores of the Atlantic Ocean in Lagos, from the endless undulating landmass of Borno to the mangroves of Delta, from the furthest reaches of the forest of Ekiti to the primordial hills of Enugu – the constituents of the Nigerian Union must be assured that there is a governing fairness in the land, that the scales of Justice swings appropriately, that none is perceived in privileged attributions, that all the more than 600 ethnic groups have an equitable and fair share in the Nigerian Sun. It is when this is established, that we can boast of a solid arrival at nationhood.
Before I conclude, I want to reiterate the importance of the fairness doctrine in all our institutions whether it is party organization, the private sphere, or the public space.
Wherever there is no justice, wherever there is no inkling of equitable principle in the guidance of our institutions, there is an inevitable succumb to chaos, disorderliness, and self-help.
Rules must be obeyed. The pivotal fundament of law and order must be adhered to. We cannot and we must not cut corners to sooth the transient emotions of the moment.
What is just is just. What is right is right. Justice denied in any undertaking is justice destroyed. It is a death knell to the necessary balance that holds any union together.
This is the destructive path that must not and should not be taken.
Finally, I hereby plead, exhort, enjoin, that we should swiftly return to the path of justice, fairness and equitable balance.
Let me crave the indulgence of this eminent gathering to digress to another salient issue of national interest, which is to enjoin the management of our financial system, to take a cursory look at the dire straits our national economy has been plunged into.
In my humble opinion, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) policy on the ongoing currency rebranding will only further destroy the economy of the nation.
To come up with the latest CBN pronouncement on daily cash transaction, with the present ugly state of our everyday life of epileptic power supply, high rate youth unemployment and sundry social challenges can only lead to one thing: fiscal and economic suicide.
All over the country, from Sokoto to Onitsha, to Jankara market here in Lagos, the people will only be more burdened with such policy as our economy is presently cash based in outlook.
The CBN policy is just too sudden. It will rather make the people sink deeper into misery and poverty. I make bold to say that the country cannot cope with what I foresee as an anti-people policy.
80% of businesses are still cash based, so it is only instructive for Mr President to wade into this rudderless monetary policy of the CBN.
Nigeria can not just move away from a cash based economy to a complete cashless regime overnight like the CBN wants to implement. Please note that the internet service is still epileptic and electric power is hardly available. How can we transact financial business in this state of hopelessness.
I appeal to Mr. President to intervene immediately before we fall headlong into calamitous abyss.
A word is enough for the wise
May God bless our Nation and let me wish you all a Merry Christmas and a bountiful New year in advance.
Thank You All
Chief Olabode Ibiyinka George, CON, GSSRS, FNSE, MBA, mni
The Atona Oodua of Yorubaland
.Donates N10m To FOWOSO, Gifts Girl With Highest Score In UME N1million
….gives Kudos to women
Dr. Jimoh Ibrahim, billionaire business mugul and candidate of Al Progressives Congress(APC) Ondo South for 2023 general elections was on Wednesday night honoured by Foundation For Wives Of Ondo State Officials (FOWOSO) for his contribution
Ibrahim, who was the Chairman of the award night, in his remark appreciated the First Lady of the state for bridging the gap between the state government and the women through the Foundation.
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Describing FOWOSO as an incredible institution that is building the lives of women in the state, Ibrahim said the Foundation should be institutionalised.
According to him, “I want to appreciate the First Lady of our dear state, the Ada Owere 1, for her efforts in building women in the state.
“She’s bridging the gap between the state administration and the women through FOWOSO.
“The First Lady fills the social gap between the state administration and the women in the state.
“FOWOSO has become an institution and should be institutionalised.
I hereby call on everyone in our state to support this institution for the success of the visions of the First Lady.”
Moreover, Dr. Ibrahim commended women folks for the yeoman’s job they’re doing at the home front.
He emphasized the importance of women to their husbands, noting that they were created to ensure that husband succeed in life.
“Tonight I want to seize this opportunity to appreciated women for keeping the home front and the children.
“You are all incredible. You take care of the home, you take care of the children.
“There’s no complete man without a woman. Women take care of the men. I commended you for the courage. Outside God, the next person is my wife. And that should be the case for every man.
“Woman should be the angel to guide for the benefit of mankind.”
Making his donation towards FOWOSO project, Ibrahim said: “It’s normal for me to donate to FOWOSO. The first lady is an incredible woman. I donate N10M million to FOWOSO.”
Different categories of award were presented at the event.
Dr. Ibrahim was presented with a Certificate of Appreciation HE4SHE Award in recognition of his support for FOWOSO and Women programmes.
The state governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu, SAN, CON, was also presented an award.
His deputy, Hon. Lucky Aiyedatiwa, who represented him at the dinner and award night, received award on his behalf.
Seven young girls also won Rising Star Award in Breast Cancer Advocacy, Arts, Solar Technology, Academics, Ability In Disability.
Catherine Igbalaiye, who won the award for Academics, was selected having scored the highest mark in UME.
Dr. Ibrahim gifted her a sum of N1million to assist her in pursuit of her academics.
Mrs. Bukola Akosile represented the Lagos State First Lady