The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested that the Federal Government disclose details of a planned N729 billion payment to 24.3 million poor Nigerians.
SERAP wants the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, Sadia Umar-Farouk, to provide more information about the plan, including mechanisms and logistics for the payments.
SERAP also requested for the list of beneficiaries, selection criteria, projected payments per state, and payment methods (cash, Bank Verification Numbers, or other means) among others.
SERAP’s request followed the minister’s announcement that the Federal Government would pay 24.3 million poor Nigerians N5,000 each for six months to cushion the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
She had disclosed the plan at the inauguration of the Federal Government’s emergency intervention database for the urban poor, saying the payments would serve as a cushion for those further impoverished by the COVID-19 pandemic.
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The organisation believed that publishing these details would promote transparency and accountability, reducing the risk of mismanagement and diversion of public funds.
SERAP emphasised the need for transparency and accountability in the payment process to ensure public trust and prevent corruption.
The organisation believes that anti-corruption safeguards were necessary to ensure payments reach intended beneficiaries and public funds are not mismanaged or diverted.
SERAP explained that although the provision of support and assistance to vulnerable Nigerians is a human rights obligation, the amount involved (five per cent of the 2021 budget) requires anti-corruption safeguards.
Having such safeguards, according to it, will “ensure the payments go directly to the intended beneficiaries, and that public funds are not mismanaged or diverted.
“SERAP notes that the Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended], UN Convention against Corruption, and African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption to which Nigeria is a state party require the government to set the highest standards of transparency, accountability and probity in programmes that it oversees,” it said.
“The government has a responsibility to ensure that these requirements and other anti-corruption controls are fully implemented and monitored and that the payments are justified in light of the huge budget deficit and borrowing, and whether there are better ways to spend N729bn to support poor Nigerians.”
SERAP has given the government seven days to respond to its request, threatening legal action under the Freedom of Information Act if it doesn’t comply.
