The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to instruct the relevant ministries, departments, and agencies (MDAs) to furnish their organization with copies of the loan agreements secured by the administrations of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan, and Muhammadu Buhari.
In addition, SERAP is requesting details of the expenditures of such loans, as well as the interest and other payments made on these loans to date. They are also urging him to commission an independent audit of the loan expenditures by the former administrations and to publicly disclose the audit findings.
In a Freedom of Information request dated 13 April 2024 and signed by SERAP’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization stated that making the agreements public would help prevent and combat wastage, corruption, mismanagement, and abuse in public fund expenditure. SERAP emphasized that no one should be able to shroud decisions on public fund expenditure in secrecy when such information can be disclosed without harming the public interest. They stressed that democracy necessitates accountability, and accountability necessitates transparency.
SERAP asserted that Nigerians have a right to information about their government’s actions. This is part of their right to information.
The FoI request partly read: “Nigerians’ right to democratic governance enables them to significantly influence government direction and to evaluate progress and assign blame. Government accountability to the general public is a cornerstone of democratic governance, which Nigeria aspires to achieve.”
“Your administration should enable citizens to access the agreements and expenditure details to assess whether their government is serving their interests. Publishing the agreements would demonstrate your frequently stated commitment to government openness and promoting accountability. It would also enhance public accountability in MDAs.”