By Onyewuchi Ojinnaka
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has granted leave to SERAP to pursue its suit against Nigerian Government over the failure to disclose spending details of the loans it obtained since 2015 including list of projects and their locations, conditions of the loans, etc.
Hon. Justice A.R Mohammed, who gave the ruling Thursday following the hearing of an argument on motion exparte by SERAP, expressed satisfaction that the leave ought to be granted.
Respondents in the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/785/2020 are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami (SAN); Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha.
Among other reliefs, SERAP is asking the court to direct and compel President Buhari to tell Nigerians the names of countries and bodies that have given the loans to Nigeria and if he would instruct the anti-corruption agencies to monitor the spending of all the loans obtained.
The suit followed an FOI letter sent to the president in May requesting him to provide spending details of all loans obtained, and expressing concerns that the growing national debts of money borrowed in the name of Nigeria may have been mismanaged, stolen or squandered.
The National Assembly had approved an N850 billion loan requested by President Buhari. Another loan of $22.79billion has already been approved by the Senate. The approval of the National Assembly was also sought for a loan of $5.513billon to fund the 2020 budget deficit and critical projects.
