Loans: OBJ, GEJ, Yar’Adua, Buhari Named as Tinubu Gets Tough Request

• SERAP has called on the President Bola Tinubu-led government to publish loan agreements by past administrations since 1999
• The organisation made the rather tough request in a freedom of information statement issued on Sunday, April 14
• SERAP also asked the government to make public to Nigerians the spending details of the loans by the former administrations

Abuja - The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on President Bola Tinubu to disclose the loan agreements obtained by past administrations since 1999.

In a statement on Sunday, April 14, SERAP urged President Tinubu to “direct appropriate Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs) to provide our organization with copies of the loan agreements obtained by the governments of former presidents Olusegun Obasanjo, Umaru Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Muhammadu Buhari.”

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Added to this the organisation is demanding that the president issue “the spending details of any such loans as well as the interests and other payments so far made on the loans.”

Even more, SERAP called on the Tinubu-led administration to establish an independent audit on the spending of the loans obtained by the governments of former heads of state and to make public the findings of any such audit.

SERAP's deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, in the statement seen by New Telegraph and Punch, said:

“Publishing copies of the agreements would prevent and combat waste, corruption, mismanagement, and abuse in the spending of public funds.

“No one should be able to pull curtains of secrecy around decisions on the spending of public funds which can be revealed without injury to the public interest. Democracy requires accountability and accountability requires transparency.

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“Nigerians are entitled to information about what their government is doing in their name. This is part of their right to information.”

Tinubu Dragged to Court Over Missing $3.4bn IMF Loan

Recall that SERAP had sued Tinubu over an alleged missing $3.4 billion loan.

According to SERAP, the loan was obtained from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

As made public on Sunday, March 3, SERAP said President Tinubu, who came into office in May 2023, failed to probe the allegations surrounding the loan obtained by Nigeria from the financial agency of the United Nations (UN).

Source: Legit.ng