The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has sued President Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.) for “failing to investigate claims that over N11 trillion designed to provide consistent energy supply since 1999 may have been stolen, mismanaged, or diverted into private pockets.”
The organization SERAP stated in a statement on Sunday that “Nigerian cities have repeatedly been plunged into darkness as the electricity grid has reportedly collapsed at least three times in five months and 130 times in seven years.” Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of SERAP, signed the statement.
The World Bank estimates that Nigerian firms lose $29 billion annually due to epileptic power supplies.
SERAP requested “an order of mandamus to direct and compel President Buhari to investigate how over N11 trillion meant to provide regular electricity supply has allegedly been squandered by governments since 1999” in the lawsuit FHC/L/CS/1119/2022, which was filed last week at the Federal High Court, Lagos.
As part of their request, SERAP also asked for “an order of mandamus to compel President Buhari to ensure the prosecution of anyone suspected of being accountable for the missing energy budget, as necessary, and to ensure the tracing and complete recovery of any missing public funds.”
According to SERAP, “It is in the public interest to achieve justice and accountability for allegations of corruption and incompetence in the energy sector, which have led to governments’ inability to address Nigeria’s ongoing power crisis.”
The massive sums of public money that are allegedly missing have, in the words of SERAP, “had catastrophic impacts on the lives of millions of Nigerians, amounting to crimes against humanity against the Nigerian people throughout the years in the sector.”
The Nigerian Constitution of 1999 [as amended] requirements, the public interest, and the nation’s international duties, according to SERAP, are all at odds with the failure to track down and collect the missing electrical cash.
The claim stated by SERAP was that “Nigerians have for far too long been denied justice and the chance to learn why they continue to pay the price for corruption in the power sector—staying in the dark while still being forced to pay outrageous electricity bills.”
“Investigating the claims of stolen N11 trillion power funds, prosecuting suspected offenders, and recovering any lost public monies will eliminate a culture of impunity,” claimed SERAP in a separate statement. Additionally, it would enhance access to and the cost of electricity in the nation while addressing the electricity grid’s ongoing collapse.
In addition, SERAP said that “frequent blackouts, the collapse of the power system, and illegal increases in electricity rates have been caused by corruption in the electricity sector and a lack of transparency and accountability in the use of public funds to support the activities of DISCOS.”
To “direct and compel President Buhari to direct and refer to the International Criminal Court all unimplemented reports of corruption in the electricity sector gathering dust on the shelves, and to arrest and surrender those named in the reports to the court for prosecution,” SERAP was seeking a mandamus order.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr. Abubakar Malami, SAN, has been added to the lawsuit as a respondent.
Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms. Adelanke Aremo, SERAP’s attorneys, filed the lawsuit on the organization’s behalf. The hearing for the lawsuit has not yet been scheduled.
