The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal action against the governors of all 36 Nigerian states and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, for failing to disclose and publish details of the N5.9 trillion and $4.6 billion loans taken by their states and the FCT, respectively.
Filed on Friday under the case number FHC/ABJ/CS/592/2024 at the Federal High Court in Abuja, the lawsuit was brought forward by SERAP’s legal team, consisting of Kolawole Oluwadare, Kehinde Oyewumi, and Valentina Adegoke.
According to a statement shared with PUNCH Online on Sunday, SERAP is requesting the court to order the governors and Mr. Wike to account for the borrowed sums and to make the loan agreements public, along with specifying the projects funded by these loans.
This legal challenge follows a demand made to the 37 respondents in a statement issued by Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP’s Deputy Director, on March 31, 2024.
In a related matter, the Governor of Kaduna State, Uba Sani, expressed concerns on May 29, 2023, about the substantial debt left by his predecessor, Nasir El-Rufai. Governor Sani noted that the state was burdened with $587 million, N85 billion in debt, and obligations related to 115 contracts, leaving insufficient funds even to meet payroll expenses.
In the statement, SERAP urged the court to “direct and compel the governors and Mr. Wike to invite the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission to investigate the spending of all the loans obtained to date by their states and the FCT.”
In the suit, SERAP is arguing that “it is in the public interest to grant the reliefs sought. Nigerians have the right to see and scrutinise the loan agreements and know the details of how the domestic and external loans obtained by the governors and FCT minister are spent.
“Opacity in the spending of the loans obtained by the governors and Mr. Wike would continue to have negative impacts on the fundamental interests of the citizens.”
The statement noted that many states, including the FCT, “reportedly” spend “public funds which may include the loans obtained by them to fund unnecessary travels, buy exotic and bulletproof cars and generally fund the lavish lifestyles of politicians,” adding that they are “allegedly mismanaging public funds which may include domestic and external loans obtained from bilateral and multilateral institutions and agencies.”
The organisation demanded transparency in the spending of the loans as they are “fundamental to increase accountability, prevent corruption, and build trust in democratic institutions with the ultimate aim of strengthening the rule of law.”
The statement equally noted that the state governors and the FCT minister “cannot hide under the excuse that the Freedom of Information Act is not applicable to their states and the FCT.”
It stated that the “legal obligations to publish the information sought are also imposed by the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights.”
While no date has been fixed for the hearing of the suit, SERAP lamented that the poverty rate, underdevelopment and lack of access to public goods and services in the country are a result of the “many years of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of public funds including the loans obtained by the states and FCT.”
SERAP quoted the Debt Management Office, saying, “The total public domestic debt portfolio for the country’s 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory is N5.9 trillion. The total public external debt portfolio is $4.6 billion.”
However, SERAP said that the loans – domestic and external, as obtained by the states and the FCT are” vulnerable to corruption and mismanagement,” hence, the respondents “have a responsibility to ensure transparency and accountability in how any loans obtained by the states and FCT are spent, to reduce vulnerability to corruption and mismanagement.”