The Federal Government has given the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations in Nigeria a 30-day deadline by which they must provide a thorough accounting of how donations have been used over the years.
The FG vowed to take the UN and other foreign organisations to court to force them to account for their spending if they refused.
During a news conference held late on Monday night, the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, threatened to take the organisations to court if they did not comply with a 30-day deadline from October 16 to November 15.
She also raised concern over the misuse of $100 million (approximately N103 billion) that was earmarked for a World Bank-sponsored project meant to bring in women, encourage them in business, empower them, particularly in the field of Agriculture and give them little capital as well as teach them on how to save.
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According to her, very few women were gathered and were given stipends ranging from N30,000-N60,000, adding that rather than use modern instruments for their harvested farm produce, they were still using primitive tools.
While emphasising that the court action was in the interest of Nigerian women, the minister added that from October 16 to November 8, the organisations would get the ministry’s pre-litigation letter, and by 15, it would be heading to court.
Kennedy-Ohanenye also promised Nigerians that immediately after November 15, “by the next day, you will hear the lawsuit number. Let them come and defend the money they are using you to collect from donors.”
She said, “I demand from the United Nations and their agencies that we want an account of all the monies they sourced from donors in the name of Nigeria. We want to see an account of what they did so they will prove me wrong.
“From October 16 to November 15, if we don’t get those reports published for Nigerians to see, we are heading to court. From October 16 to November 8, they will get our pre-action letter that by 15, we are heading to court.
“By November 8, the action letter will come from this ministry on behalf of Nigerian women and children who are over 70 per cent of our population. After that 15, we will go to court to demand that account. You can’t use N140-148 million and write it off that you’re using it for policy-making and technical support, summit and many other things that are totally irrelevant from why the donors bring in the money.”
