By Jeph Ajobaju, Chief Copy Editor
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit at the Lagos Federal High Court to compel Muhammadu Buhari to provide details of how N729 billion has reportedly been handed out to 24.3 million poor households.
It is the third such suit SERAP has filed against Buhari in seven weeks asking him to account for how he spends taxpayers’ money so as to dispel persistent reports of how Ministers and other officials are stealing public funds by various means.
Besides, the human rights group wrote an open letter to him two weeks ago to redirect his N4.87 million spy vote to pay striking doctors.
Early July – Buhari to explain disbursement of $25b overdrafts from CBN
SERAP sued Buhari to the Abuja Federal High Court to disclose the “spending details of the overdrafts and loans obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) since May 29, 2015, including the projects on which the overdrafts have been spent, and repayments of all overdrafts to date.”
It also wants him to “explain and clarify whether the $25bn (N9.7trn) overdraft reportedly obtained from the CBN is within the five per cent limit of the actual revenue of the government for 2020” as mandated in the CBN Act.
Joined in the suit as respondents are federal Attorney General and Justice Minister Abubakar Malami, Finance Minister Zainab Ahmed, and CBN Governor Godwin Emefiele.
SERAP argues that
· “Ensuring transparency and accountability in the spending of CBN overdrafts and loans would promote prudence in debt management, reduce any risks of corruption and mismanagement, and help the government to avoid the pitfalls of excessive debt.
· “By the combined reading of the Constitution of Nigeria … the Freedom of Information Act, the UN Convention against Corruption, and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, there are transparency obligations imposed on the government to disclose information to the public concerning details of CBN overdrafts, loans and repayments to date.
· “The Nigerian Constitution, Freedom of Information Act, and these treaties rest on the basic principle that citizens should have access to information regarding their government’s activities.
· “Transparency and accountability in the spending of CBN overdrafts would also ensure that public funds are properly spent, reduce the level of public debt, and improve the ability of the government to invest in essential public goods and services, such as quality education, healthcare, and clean water.
· “It is the primary responsibility of the government to ensure public access to these services in order to lift millions of Nigerians out of poverty and to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals [SDGs] by 2030.
· “Transparency and accountability in the spending of CBN overdrafts and loans would also improve the ability of the government to effectively respond to the COVID-19 crisis. This means that the government would not have to choose between saving lives or making debt payments.
Two weeks ago – Buhari asked to pay doctors with N4.87 billion spy budget
SERAP wrote an open letter to Buhari to redirect the N4.87 he voted to spy on social media activities, phone calls, and text messages of citizens to pay the salaries of striking doctors.
It also wants the surveillance money used to improve the benefits of resident doctors as well as health care facilities for poor Nigerians who rely on those facilities and have no means for medical tourism abroad, like Buhari.
“We also urge you to send to the National Assembly [NASS] a fresh supplementary appropriation bill, which reflects the redirected budget, for its approval,” SERAP said, reported by Vanguard.
Surveillance allocation to NIA
In Buhari’s supplementary budget approved by the NASS on July 7, a total N4.87 billion is allocated to the National Intelligence Agency (NIA) to monitor WhatsApp messages, telephone calls, and text messages, among others.
Premium Times reports that N1.93 billion is for “WhatsApp Intercept Solution” and N2.93 billion for “Thuraya Interception Solution” used for monitoring voice calls or call-related information, SMS, data traffic, among others.
Lawmakers passed a supplementary budget of N982.72 billion for 2021 against N895 billion proposed by Buhari, an increase of about N87 billion.
Redirecting spy budget to health care
“Redirecting the proposed spending of N4.8bn would be entirely consistent with your constitutional oath of office, and the letter and spirit of the Nigerian Constitution … as it would promote efficient, honest, and legal spending of public money,” SERAP said.
“Redirecting the proposed spending of N4.8bn would also remove the threats to fundamental human rights of Nigerians, and ensure access to quality healthcare for the socially and economically vulnerable people who rely on public hospitals, and have no opportunity for medical treatment elsewhere.
“Any appropriation law ought to comply with the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s international human rights obligations and commitments.
“The constitutional oath of office implicitly provides some safeguards on the appropriation and spending of public funds, and imposes a legally binding obligation on public officers to preserve the public money, and not to disburse it except conformably to the Constitution.
“SERAP believes that any proposed spending of public funds should stay within the limits of constitutional responsibilities, and oath of office by public officers, as well as comply with Chapter 2 of the Nigerian Constitution relating to fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy.
“The mere threat of mass surveillance, even when secret, coupled with the lack of remedy, can constitute an interference with human rights, including the rights to privacy, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.
“The proposed spending of N4.8bn of public funds as contained in the Supplementary Appropriation Act, which you signed last month, would give rise to serious violations of the human rights of Nigerians and other people, as it would grant free rein to government agencies to conduct mass surveillance of communications of people.
“The proposed spending also fails to meet the requirements of public interests, legality, necessity, and proportionality.
Lack of safeguards
“Additionally, the lack of any safeguards against discriminatory decision-making, and access to an effective remedy shows the grave threats it poses to constitutionally and internationally recognized human rights.
“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within seven days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.
“SERAP is concerned that the proposed spending to monitor WhatsApp messages, phone calls, and text messages of Nigerians and other people is inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s international human rights obligations.
“Specifically, Section 37 of the Nigerian Constitution, and Article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which the country is a state party, provide for the right to freedom from arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy and correspondence, communications and private data.
“Section 39 of the Nigerian Constitution and Article 19 of the Covenant also protect everyone’s right to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds, regardless of frontiers and through any media.
“SERAP wishes to stress your government’s obligations under article 9 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and article 13 of the UN Convention against Corruption both of which Nigeria has ratified.”
Surveillance aims at journalists, activists, opposition figures
“Similarly, the UN General Assembly has condemned unlawful or arbitrary surveillance and interception of communications as ‘highly intrusive acts’ that interfere with fundamental human rights (see General Assembly resolutions 68/167 and 71/199).
“SERAP is concerned that the powers to conduct arbitrary, abusive or unlawful surveillance of communications may also be used to target political figures and activists, journalists and others in the discharge of their lawful activities, especially given the growing repression of civic space, suspension of Twitter, and attacks on freedom of expression and media freedom in the country.
“Privacy and expression are intertwined in the digital age, with online privacy serving as a gateway to secure exercise of the freedom of opinion and expression.
“Therefore, targets of surveillance would suffer interference with their rights to privacy and freedom of opinion and expression whether the effort to monitor is successful or not.
“Interference with privacy through targeted surveillance is designed to repress the exercise of the right to freedom of expression.
“Surveillance of journalists, activists, opposition figures, critics and others simply exercising their right to freedom of expression – would lead to violations of other human rights such as the rights to liberty and freedom from torture and other ill-treatment.
“Targeted surveillance creates incentives for self-censorship and directly undermines the ability of journalists and human rights defenders to conduct investigations and build and maintain relationships with sources of information.”
The letter was copied to Malami and Ahmed.
Last week – Buhari sued to recover missing N106b; instead taking loans
SERAP sued Buhari to the Abuja Federal High Court for failing to probe N106 billion officially declared missing from 149 ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs).
SERAP said he failed to prosecute those responsible for the fraud and recover the missing public funds to reduce the pressure of borrowing more money.
The suit is sequel to confirmation by the Office of the federal Auditor General in its 2018 annual audited report that N105,662,350,077.46 of public funds are missing, misappropriated or unaccounted for across 149 MDAs, per Premium Times.
SERAP seeks “an order of mandamus to direct and compel President Buhari to promptly investigate the alleged missing N106bn of public funds, ensure prosecution of anyone suspected to be responsible, and the full recovery of any missing public money.
It argues that “Recovering the alleged missing public funds would reduce the pressure on the Federal Government to borrow more money to fund the budget, enable the authorities to meet the country’s constitutional and international obligations, and reduce the growing level of public debts.
“Directing and compelling President Buhari to ensure the investigation and prosecution of the alleged grand corruption documented by the Auditor-General would be entirely consistent with the government’s own commitment to fight corruption, improve the integrity of MDAs, and serve the public interest.
“The alleged missing public funds have hampered the ability of the indicted MDAs to meet the needs of average citizens, as the missing funds could have helped the government to invest in key public goods and services, and to improve access of Nigerians to these goods and services.”
Joined in the suit as respondents are Malami and Ahmed.
SERAP’s latest lawsuit
Seeks
· “To compel the Federal Government to disclose details of proposed payments of N729bn to 24.3 million poor Nigerians, including the mechanisms and logistics for the payments, list of beneficiaries, and how they have been selected, and whether the payments will be made in cash or through Bank Verification Numbers [BVN] or other means.
· “An order directing and compelling the Federal Government to explain the rationale for paying N5,000 to 24.3 million poor Nigerians for six months, which translates to five percent of the country’s budget of N13.6 trillion for 2021.”
The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information (FoI) request to Sadia Umar-Farouk, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development, stating that:
“Disclosing the details of beneficiaries and selection criteria, as well as the payment plan would promote transparency and accountability, and remove the risks of mismanagement and diversion of public funds.”
SERAP also seeks from the court
· “An order directing and compelling the Federal Government to clarify whether the proposed payment to poor Nigerians is part of the N5.6 trillion budget deficit.”
It argues that
· “Providing support and assistance to poor Nigerians is a human rights obligation but the programme to spend five-percent of the 2021 budget, which is mostly based on deficit and borrowing, requires anti-corruption safeguards to ensure the payments go directly to the intended beneficiaries, and that public funds are not mismanaged or diverted.
· “The Nigerian Constitution … UN Convention against Corruption, and African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party require the government to set the highest standards of transparency, accountability and probity in programmes that it oversees.
· “The government has a responsibility to ensure that these requirements and other anti-corruption controls are fully implemented and monitored, and that the payments are justified in light of the huge budget deficit and borrowing, and whether there are better ways to spend N729bn to support poor Nigerians.
· “The Federal Government has repeatedly failed to ensure transparency and accountability in the spending of public wealth and resources.
· “Transparency and accountability in the programme would improve public trust, and allow Nigerians to track and monitor its implementation, and to assess if the programme is justified, as well as to hold authorities to account in cases of diversion, mismanagement and corruption.
· “Obedience to the rule of law by all citizens but more particularly those who publicly took oath of office to protect and preserve the constitution is a desideratum to good governance and respect for the rule of law.
· “In a democratic society, this is meant to be a norm; it is an apostasy for government to ignore the provisions of the law and the necessary rules to regulate matters.
· “The right to truth allows Nigerians to gain access to information essential to the fight against corruption. This is in line with the Government’s anti-corruption strategy of citizen involvement in the fight against corruption.
· “As a positive development strategy, access to information will foster development of democratic institutions in Nigeria.”
· “Democracy cannot flourish in the absence of citizen’s access to information. Public officers are mere custodians of public records. The citizenry is entitled to know how the common wealth is being utilized, managed and administered.
· This right to know will no doubt help in promoting a transparent democracy, good governance and public accountability.”
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.