President Muhammadu Buhari is being sued by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) for “failure to fully, properly, and openly probe spending on all social safety net and poverty reduction programs and projects undertaken between 2015 and 2022.”
The Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, is included in the case as a respondent (SAN).
The National Bureau of Statistics recently released a report that indicated that 133 million Nigerians were living in poverty, despite the government allegedly spending N500 billion annually on “social investment programs.”
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According to SERAP, half of the country’s poor residents are children.
The suit was filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Blessing Ogwuche.
In the suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/2357/2022 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Abuja, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to thoroughly and transparently investigate the spending on all social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects executed between 2015 and 2022.”
SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to ensure that suspected perpetrators of corruption and mismanagement of public funds meant to take care of the poor face prosecution, as appropriate, and any stolen public funds are recovered.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that, “Nigerians have the right to be free from poverty. Allegations of corruption in social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes pose both direct and indirect threats to human rights, and contribute to extreme poverty in the country.”
SERAP is also arguing that, “Investigating the allegations of corruption in the spending on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects and recovering any stolen public funds would serve the public interest.”
The statement further reads;
The NBS report suggests a grave violation of the public trust, and the lack of political will by the government to uphold the country’s constitutional and international human rights obligations.
The report that 133 million Nigerians are poor suggests corruption and mismanagement in the spending of trillion of naira on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes, including the reported disbursement of over $700 million from the repatriated Abacha looted funds to these programmes.
The report also shows that the purported social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes are clearly not working. It also shows a failure by the government to uphold the constitutionally and internationally guaranteed human rights of the Nigerian people.
The government has a sacred duty to ensure transparency and accountability in the spending of the country’s resources, including the spending of public funds on social safety-nets and poverty alleviation programmes and projects.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit.
