As the war of words between the minister
of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and
former governor of the Central Bank of
Nigeria, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo continue
to rage, a civil society group has
threatened to take the minister to court if
she failed to provide information about
the alleged missing N30trillion.
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability
Project, (SERAP) in a Freedom of
Information Act request to Okonjo-Iweala
threatened to take all appropriate legal
actions under the FOI Act to compel her
to comply with the request if “the
information is not provided within 14
days of the receipt and/or publication of
this letter.”
According to SERAP, the request followed
the disclosure by Soludo that over
N30trillion had been missing, or stolen, or
unaccounted for, or simply mismanaged
under the minister’s watch.
In the letter of request dated February 2,
2015 and signed by SERAP executive
director Adetokunbo Mumuni, the
organisation, said that, “As trustee of
public funds, SERAP contends that your
ministry has a legal duty to render
account on the missing N30trillion to the
beneficiaries (Nigerians) of the trust, if
and when called upon to do so.”
The organization requested the minister
to “provide detailed information on the
spending of missing N30 trillion that
presumably represents income or return
accruing to or derived by the government
of the Federation from any source,
including: a) any receipt, however
described, arising from the operation of
any law.
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