Insecurity: SERAP asks Buhari, governors to disclose spending on ‘security votes’

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent Freedom of Information requests to President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 state governors in Nigeria asking them to urgently “provide information on specific details of spending of appropriated public funds as security votes between 2011 and 2019.”

In the separate requests sent to President Buhari and the governors, SERAP said that the information is needed to determine if public funds meant to provide security and ensure respect and protection of the rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty of Nigerians have been judiciously used for this purpose.

The needed information, according to SERAP, is limited to details of visible, specific security measures and projects executed and does not include spending on intelligence operations.

SERAP said that the federal and state governments should urgently put in place concrete measures to end the patently unconstitutional, illegal and widespread appropriation of public funds as security votes.

It also demanded for the establishment of Joint Security Trust Funds between the FG and the 36 state governments with strong legal framework, oversight and auditing mechanisms, as a permanent replacement for the unconstitutional appropriation of public funds as security votes.

In the FOI requests dated 12 April 2019 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “’Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.’”

SERAP believes that transparency and accountability in the spending of security votes are critically important to fully implement this responsibility imposed on both the federal and state governments.”

SERAP said that it was concerned that rather than serving the citizens, the appropriation of public funds as security votes over the years would seem to serve high-ranking government officials at all levels—federal and states.

It added that the practice of security votes “entrusts discretionary powers to spend huge public funds on certain elected public officials who may not have any idea of operational issues on security matters.”