SERAP sues Fashola over power privatisation
- SERAP filed the lawsuit after it had given Fashola 14 days to make the process public in line with the Freedom of Information, but he didn't
- The group says it wants the privatisation process to be made public in order to enlighten Nigerians on what took place
- It also wants to know if the spending for the privatisation came from the budget of the ministry or elsewhere
Nigeria's Minister of Power, Works and Housing Babatunde Fashola has been dragged before a Federal High Court in Lagos by a rights group SERAP for not revealing the details behind privatisation process in the power sector.
SERAP wants the minister to account for spending in the privatisation in the sector and reveal source or sources of the funds.
The group confirmed the lawsuit in a statement signed by its deputy director Timothy Adewale and sent to Legit.ng.
It explained why the minister must explain himself in court after failing to provide the information in 14 days following a request in line with the Freedom of Information act.
The statement read:
"Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sued the Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN over “failure to account for the spending on the privatisation of the electricity sector and the exact amount of post-privatisation spending on generation companies (GENCOS), distribution companies (DISCOS) and Transmission Company of Nigeria to date, and to explain if such spending came from budgetary allocations or other sources.”
READ ALSO: Curfew declared in Abuja community after violent clash
"In the suit number FHC/L/CS/972/18 filed last week at the Federal High Court, Ikoyi, Lagos, SERAP is seeking “an order for leave to apply for judicial review and an order of mandamus directing and/or compelling Mr Fashola to provide specific details on the privatization of the electricity sector, the names of all the companies and individuals involved; and to publish widely including on a dedicated website any such information.”
"The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information request dated 7 May 2018 to Mr Fashola giving him 14 days to provide “information on the status of implementation of the 25-year national energy development plan, and whether the Code of Ethics of the privatization process which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) from buying shares in companies being privatized were deliberately flouted.”
The suit filed on behalf of SERAP by its counsel, Ms. Bamisope Adeyanju read in part:
“Publishing the information requested and making it widely available to the public would serve the public interest and provide insights relevant to the public debate on the ongoing efforts to prevent and combat a culture of mismanagement of public funds, corruption and impunity of perpetrators.
“Most of the companies that won the bids had no prior experience in the power sector and little or no capacity at all to manage the sector. The privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have yielded the country total darkness. The gains of privatization have been lost through alleged corruption, manipulation of rules and disregard to extant laws and lack of transparency in the exercise.
“To further highlight the seriousness of the situation, several years after the country’s power sector was privatized, millions of Nigerian households particularly the socially and economically vulnerable sectors of the population continue to complain about outrageous bills for electricity not consumed, and poor power supply from distribution firms. Millions of Nigerians continue to be exploited through the use of patently illegal estimated billing by DISCOs. One wonders the essence of the privatization if there has been no corresponding improvement in power for Nigerians.”
PAY ATTENTION: Install our latest app for Android and read best news on Nigeria’s #1 news app
“Enforcing the right to truth would allow Nigerians to gain access to information essential to the fight against corruption and provide a form of reparation to victims of grand corruption in the power sector. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 3 has implied that privatization process should not be detrimental to the effective realization of all human rights, including access to regular electricity supply.
“SERAP has the right to request the information under contention on the basis of several provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011. By Section (1) of the FoI Act, SERAP is entitled as of right to request for or gain access to information, including information on post-privatization spending by the Federal Government and accounts of spending on the private entities such as GENCOS and DISCOS.”
Meanwhile, Legit.ng reported earlier that the national power grid reportedly collapsed on Saturday, June 16, plunging the whole country into total darkness.
All the nation’s power plants were reportedly shut down following the system collapse.
A top executive of one of the nation’s electricity distribution companies who spoke on the condition of anonymity confirmed the reported collapse of the power grid.
Source: Legit.ng
