Court Orders Minister to Disclose Account Record of School Feeding Program
A Federal High Court in Abuja ordered Dr Betta Edu, Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development, to release how N2.8m was spent on feeding school children during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Justice Nkeonye Maha, directed the Nigerian minister and their ministry to provide a civil society group with the information they had requested, in accordance with the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011.
The judge ruled that the minister’s failure to reply to the group’s letter, which was dated August 6, 2020, and the lack of a reason for the refusal to respond to the request, as outlined in the FOI Act, breached the provisions of Section 4(a) and (b) of the Act.
Justice Maha ordered the first and second defendants to comply with Section 25(1) of the FOI Act and provide the plaintiff with the details requested. The judge also demanded that the minister comply with the court’s orders within 21 days of receiving them.
However, Justice Maha refused to grant “Reliefs 3(e), (f) and (g) of the plaintiff.”
The Incorporated Trustees of Kingdom Human Rights Foundation International filed the case after former Minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq and her ministry allegedly refused to respond to the information sought.
Umar-Farouq served as the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development under the Muhammadu Buhari administration. The group accused her of embezzling public funds through a modified and implemented school feeding program during the COVID-19 lockdown, which they described as a scam.
The group sued the minister, the ministry and the Presidential Task Force on COVID-19 as the first, second and third defendants. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) and the Independent Corrupt Practice and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) were also named as the fourth and fifth defendants.
The group requested an order of mandamus requiring the minister to immediately release and make available to them all the information and documents requested in their application letter. This included details of how the N2.3 billion was expended on school feeding programs during the COVID-19 lockdown in three states, as disclosed by Umar-Farouq during the Presidential Taskforce on COVID-19 briefing of Monday, 3rd August, 2020 in Abuja.
