Court orders Betta Edu to provide details of N536m school feeding budget
By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Betta Edu, Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development Minister, has been ordered by a court to provide details of N535.8 million reportedly spent on feeding schoolchildren during COVID-19 lockdown.
Edu inherited the burden from former Humanitarian Affairs Minister Sadiya Farouq who served under Muhammadu Buhari in an administration notorious for disregarding court orders.
Judge Nkeonye Maha of the Abuja Federal High Court on Wednesday ordered Edu and the ministry to provide Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International (KHRFI), a civil society group, with details of the spending, as sought under Section 25(1) of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act 2011.
The court held Edu failed to respond to KHRFI’s letter, dated 6 August 2020 or give reason for the refusal to respond – as prescribed under the FOI Act – contravened Section 4(a) and (b) of the Act, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
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Order to be complied with within 21 days
“In view of all the matters before me and flowing from the objectives of the FOI Act 2011, the court hereby orders the 1st and 2nd defendants, in line with Section 25(1) of the FOI Act, to furnish the plaintiff with the information sought in Reliefs 3(a), (b), (c), (d),” Maha ruled, per reporting by The Guardian.
She also ordered Edu to comply with the orders of the court within 21 days upon receipt of the orders but declined to grant “Reliefs 3(e), (f) and (g) of the plaintiff.”
The Incorporated Trustees of KHRFI filed the lawsuit following the refusal of Farouq, the then-Minister, and her ministry to respond to the information sought.
KHRFI alleged independent investigation and information available to it “revealed that the so-called modified and implemented school feeding programme during lockdown against coronavirus pandemic was a scam, cover-up and well-articulated fiction to embezzle public funds.”
KHRFI sued the Minister, the ministry and the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 as 1st, 2nd and 3rd defendants respectively.
Also joined in the suit are the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and Independent Corrupt Practice and other related offences Commission (ICPC) as 4th and 5th defendants.
But the court struck out the names of 3rd, 4th, and 5th defendants’ from the suit, saying the plaintiff failed to disclose a cause of action against them.
The judgment was delivered on October 30 but the certified true copy (CTC) was made available on November 29.
