CCTV Project: Court Orders Buhari Govt To Account For €418.40m Chinese Loan
A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja last week ordered the government of President Muhammadu Buhari to account for the spending of €418.40 million Chinese loan to fund the failed Abuja Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV) project.
The Court also ordered the government to publish the total amount of money paid to Chinese and local companies and contractors and specific details of the names of the companies and contractors and status of the implementation of the project.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) disclosed this on Sunday in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER in Lagos.
Justice Emeka Nwite made the orders while delivering judgment in a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/ABJ/CS/1447/2019 brought by SERAP.
It would be recalled that SERAP had in December 2019 filed a lawsuit against the Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed over failure to disclose information and specific documents on the total amount of money paid to contractors from the €418.40 million loan obtained in 2010 from China to fund the Abuja CCTV project.
Ahmed had disclosed that Nigeria was servicing the loan, adding that she had no explanations on the status of the project.
In his judgment, Justice Nwite agreed with SERAP that there is a reasonable cause of action against the government, adding that accounting for the spending of the €418.40 million Chinese loan is in the interest of the public.
Justice Nwite also said that the Minister of Finance is in charge of the finance of the country and cannot by any stretch of imagination be oblivious of the amount of money paid to the contractors for the Abuja CCTV contract and the money meant for the construction of the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB).
Justice Nwite also ordered the government to provide the details clarifying whether the sum of N1.5 billion Naira paid for the failed contract meant to construct the headquarters of the Code of Conduct Bureau (CCB) was part of another loan obtained from China.
“SERAP’s core objectives are to promote human rights, transparency and accountability and anticorruption in Nigeria.”
