Court Orders Ex-Minister, Umar-Farouk, To Account For N729bn

 

Justice Deinde Dipeolu of the Federal High Court in Lagos has ordered a former minister of humanitarian affairs, disasters management and social development, Sadia Umar-Farouk, to make public the details of how N729 billion was paid to 24.3 million poor Nigerians for six months.

 

Justice Dipeolu gave the order while delivering judgement in a Freedom of Information suit by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) seeking an order to compel the former minister to provide the list and details of the beneficiaries who received the payments, the number of states covered and the payments per state.

 

The judge issued an order of mandamus directing and compelling the minister to provide SERAP with details of how the beneficiaries have been selected and the mechanisms for the payments to the beneficiaries.

 

The court further ordered Umar-Farouk to explain the rationale for paying N5,000 to 24.3 million poor Nigerians, which translates to five percent of Nigeria’s budget of N13.6 trillion for 2021.

 

In the verdict, Justice Dipeolu, who held that the former minister did not give any reason for the refusal to disclose the details sought by SERAP, also dismissed the objections raised by the minister’s counsel and upheld the plaintiff’s arguments.

 

The judge further held that where a statute clearly provides for a particular act to be done or performed in a particular way, failure to perform the act as provided will not only be interpreted as delinquent conduct but will be interpreted as not complying with the statutory provision.