Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged 36 state governors and the Minister of Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, Nyesom Wike, to provide the organisation with documents on the spending of trillions of naira allocations received fromthe Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) since 1999, and to widely publish such documents.
SERAP also urged them to invite the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) and Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) to jointly track and monitor the spending of FAAC allocations by states and the FCT and to probe any allegations of corruption linked to the allocations.
SERAP’s requests followed reports that FAAC disbursed N1.123 trillion to the federal, state, and local councils for March 2024 alone. States collected N398.689 billion.
Relying on the Freedom of Information (FoI) provisions, Serap made the requests at the weekend.
In the request, signed SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation stated that Nigerians ought to know in what manner public funds, including FAAC allocations, were spent.
It noted that without the information, Nigerians would not beable to follow the actions of their states and the FCT, thereby preventing themfrom fulfilling their responsibilities as citizens.
According to the body, trillions of FAAC allocations received by Nigeria’s 36 states and the FCT have allegedly gone down the drain and threatened the human rights of socially and economically vulnerable Nigerians.
“Ensuring that the FAAC allocations received by your state and the FCT are spent to achieve the security and welfare of Nigerians are serious and legitimate public interests.
“Secrecy in the spending of FAAC allocations received by your state and the FCT is entirely inconsistent and incompatible with the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and the country’s international anti-corruption obligations.
“Secrecy in the spending of FAAC allocations received by your state and the FCT also denies Nigerians the right to know how public funds are spent. Transparency in the spending would allow them to retain control over their government,” SERAP said.
The organisation insisted that the documents should include evidence and list of specific projects completed with the FAAC allocations collected, the locations of any such projects and completion reports of the projects.
“The documents should also include details of the salaries and pensions paid from the FAAC allocations collected, as well as the details of projects executed on hospitals and schools with the FAAC allocations,” SERAP added.