The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has asked the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja to compel President Muhammadu to publish the details of loans taken by his administration from May 29, 2015.
It disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
According to it, it also asked the court to order the president to provide details of the interest rate accruing from the debt, the total amount of debts that have so far been incurred by the government, as well as details of the projects on which the loans have been spent.
Named as respondents in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/785/2020 are the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Minister of Finance, Budget and National Planning, Zainab Ahmed; and Director-General of the Debt Management Office, Patience Oniha.
The body also asked the court to “direct and compel President Buhari to tell Nigerians if he would instruct the anti-corruption agencies; Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to monitor the spending of all loans obtained since May 2015.”
Furthermore, it asked the court to compel President Buhari to tell Nigerians the names of countries and bodies that have given the loans to Nigeria.
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SERAP noted that the suit is “permitted under the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the Freedom of Information Act; the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the UN Convention against Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party.”
The statement explained that the suit followed a Freedom of Information (FOI) letter it sent to the president in May requesting him to provide details his government spent all loans obtained since he assumed office in 2015.
It expressed the fear that the growing national debts of money borrowed in the name of Nigeria may have been mismanaged, stolen or squandered.
Recall that the National Assembly had approved an N850 billion loan requested by President Buhari. Another loan of $22.79bn has equally been approved by the Senate.
The President had also requested the National Assembly’s approval for a fresh loan of $5.513bn to fund the 2020 budget deficit, critical projects, and support some states.
