Judiciary
A Federal high Court in Abuja has been asked to compel the Accountant General of the Federation to release details of the N173 billion released to various Ministries, Departments and parastatals during COVID-19
The ministries, parastatals, including security agencies, educational institutes and other contractors are alleged to have received some N173 billion from the federal purse in the first half of 2020 without accountable documentation.
Nigeria’s foremost anti-corruption concern, Human and Environmental Development Agenda, HEDA Resource Centre, in a motion exparte filed at the Federal High Court in Abuja is seeking the order of mandamus to compel the Accountant General of the Federation, AG, to release details of the expenditure up to May 29, 2020.
In what promised to be another historic case, HEDA said the AG’s professionalism and his association or membership of local and international accounting groups is at stake if the Court finds him guilty.
HEDA cites Section 6 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999, order 26 rule 6 of the Federal High Court as the basis for the judges’ powers.
HEDA submitted as exhibit the publication in the respect of Dataphyte consortium titled “173 Billion payments without Description Defeats Nigeria’s Open Government Initiative”.
HEDA’s Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, said the N173 billion payment raises concern about how government parastatals expend public funds, adding that his group seeks details to determine if the funds were judiciously utilised and in public interest.
The Dataphyte analysis of data on the open Treasury Portal had indicated that the whopping sum of ₦173 billion worth 1,353 payments was made to various parastatals between January 2020 and April 2020 without descriptions.
HEDA said it made several requests in writing asking the AG to release the expenditure without any response prompting the legal redress.
The group said it was in the public interest that the details were released.
HEDA disclosed that there are very strong indications that the office of the Accountant General of the Federation has continued to neglect proper description of payments issued to contractors and government agencies, expressing fear that the trend may defeat transparency and accountability, key elements necessary for good governance.
– Feb. 22, 2021 @ 16:49 GMT /
Tags: HEDA sues Accountant General wants details of ₦173b MDA budget
