SERAP to sue Okonjo-Iweala over alleged missing N30tn
A civil society group, Socio-Economic
Rights and Accountability Project, has asked the Minister of Finance,
Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, to tell Nigerians the whereabouts of the N30tn
alleged to have gone missing under her watch.
The group, in a letter to the minister
on Monday, asked her to account for the alleged missing sum within 14
days or face a legal action.
SERAP’s demand followed the allegation
by a former Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma
Soludo, that not less than N30tn “had been missing or stolen or
unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged” under Okonjo-Iweala’s watch as
the Minister of Finance.
In the letter signed by its Executive
Director, Adetokunbo Mumuni, SERAP said Nigerians had a right to know as
the said the money “represented some accruable income to the Federal
Government in the past four years.”
It said that in line with the Freedom of
Information Act, “your ministry has a legal duty to render account on
the missing N30tn to the beneficiaries (Nigerians) of the trust, if and
when called upon to do so.”
The group said the allegation levelled
by Soludo called for concern because public stealing or mismanagement of
public funds had been the reason for the economic hardship facing the
Nigerian masses.
The letter read in part, “SERAP
considers this a serious allegation that requires your immediate and
urgent clarifications. If true, such allegation will clearly amount to a
fundamental breach of national anti-corruption laws and the country’s
international anti-corruption obligations and commitments, including
under the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state
party.
“Any failure or refusal to render
account on the missing N30tn will also be clearly inconsistent with the
attitude of a government that has repeatedly expressed commitment to the
fight against corruption, and in fact signed the Freedom of Information
Act.
“Therefore, it is necessary to provide
clarity as to what exactly happened to the missing N30tn if the Ministry
of Finance is to continue to play a leadership role in the transparent
and accountable management of the country’s resources and wealth, and to
enjoy the public trust and confidence essential for the ministry’s
effectiveness and impact.
“This information should cover the past
four years of your role as Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister
under the President Goodluck Jonathan government”
Just like in the case of the PwC audit report that a former CBN governor erroneously raised, the Minister will surprise and silence all her critics by soon releasing the demanded report and these groups will keep their mouths permanently under lock and key. This much I know. Stay tuned!
ReplyDeleteUnder the cover of human right activism, a lot of these so-called human rights or civil society groups are committing fraud and breaking laws. It can be tolerated when patriotism is involved but in a situation where the primary motivation is strongly selfish and not altruism then we need
ReplyDeleteJust in case we forget. This is not the first time we will be hearing this kind of thing against the minister. Happily they all failed just like this one too will surely fail by the special grace of God. We need to be reminded that the same allegations were levied against her in the case of PwC audit report. The world went silent after that. This will be exactly thecase with this one
ReplyDeleteJust like in the case of the PwC audit report that a former CBN governor erroneously raised, the Minister will surprise and silence all her critics by soon releasing the demanded report and these groups will keep their mouths permanently under lock and key. This much I know. Just like the famous saying of a television station: We are Watching...
ReplyDeleteIs there no law regulating the activities of civil society groups in Nigeria. This madness has just got to stop.Under the cover of human right activism, a lot of these so-called human rights or civil society groups are committing fraud and breaking laws. In my opinion this is another waste of judicial time.
ReplyDeleteWe should start asking ourselves some very critical questions in this country. How did this unregistered partly clandestine group get access to a piece of information that is highly classified public document? We must now know those that are filtering information to the dreaded and monstrous groups like the Boko Haram. If not so long as it is yet to be on government’s White paper, the information remains a classified. SERAP must explain how it got its access to it!
ReplyDelete