By Bimbo Ogunnaike
A Civil Society Organisation (CSO) group, the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), has disclosed that it has instituted at least 16 different lawsuits against some federal government agencies over alleged misappropriation of N1.5 trillion public funds
The Lead Director of the centre, Eze Onyekpere, made the disclosure during a virtual media dialogue.
Onyekpere said the CSO instituted the court actions in hope of recovering alleged looted funds to support developmental projects in the country.
He lamented that while Nigeria suffers under a huge foreign loan burden, revenues which ought to be deployed towards financing annual budgets and other key projects are allegedly diverted by government agencies.
According to him, the CSO is now making the series of litigation docket public as a means of exposing the degree of corruption in government agencies.
The suits currently under litigation at various stages in the Federal High Court Abuja, according to the CSO include “A case against the Director-General, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over alleged non-remittance of N2,297,199,080.00, representing 25% of the internally generated revenue (IGR) realized in 2015 and 2016”.
“A freedom of information and public finance management suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/369/2020, against the Director-General, Centre for Management Development (CMD), over alleged non-remittance of N59,274,180.66, being 25% of the IGR realized in 2016”.
“A suit against the Director-General, National Centre for Women Development (NCWD), over alleged non-remittance of N135,200,215.84 to the federal government coffers”
“Another suit brought against the Director-General, Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE), over allegations of non-remittance of N14,720,396,432.43″
And another against the Director-General, National Power Training Institute of Nigeria (NAPTIN), for alleged failure to remit the sum of N18,575,455.48 for Value Added Tax (VAT) and N19,493,613.72 Withholding Tax (WHT) allegedly deducted from payments to contractors in respect of supply of goods and services and as contained in page 122 of the Auditor-General’s Annual Report on the Accounts of the Federation of Nigeria for 2017”.
CSJ director assured that the group was ready to follow the litigations to their logical conclusion to serve as a deterrent to other government agencies that may be dishonest in the utilization of public funds.
He, however, lamented that notable lawyers are often hired using public funds to defend suspected agencies, whenever they are dragged to court over allegations of embezzlement.
Onyekpere appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to warn heads of different government agencies over their lack of accountability and transparency in the utilization of public funds.
