Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the Federal Government to publish details of proposed payments of N729bn to 24.3 million poor Nigerians for six months.
According to SERAP, this would include the mechanisms and logistics for the payments, list of beneficiaries, and how they have been selected, projected payments per state, and whether the payments will be made in cash or through Bank Verification Numbers or other means.
Recall that Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disasters Management and Social Development, Sadia Umar-Farouk, last week disclosed that the Federal Government would pay about 24.3 million poor Nigerians N5,000 each for a period of six months to “provide help to those impoverished by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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Reacting to this development, SERAP urged her to “explain the rationale for paying N5,000 to 24.3 million poor Nigerians, which translates to five-percent of the country’s budget of N13.6 trillion for 2021, and to clarify if this proposed spending is part of the N5.6 trillion budget deficit.”
The group stated that the amount translates to five-per cent of the country’s budget of N13.6 trillion for 2021.
It also wants to know if the proposed spending is part of the N5.6 trillion budget deficit.
The group stated that it is giving the government seven days from the receipt or publication of its FoI request to grant it.
“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions under the Freedom of Information Act to compel you to comply with our request,” the NGO said in a statement by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, on Sunday
