Court Orders Okowa to Account for N200bn School Fund

By Adedapo Adesanya

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos, in a landmark judgment brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has ordered the disclosure of the spending details of over N200 billion public funds collected by the government of former Delta State governor, Mr Ifeanyi Okowa, from the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) fund and allocations from the Federation Accounts.

The court ordered the current Delta State Governor, Mr  Sheriff Oborevwori, to “disclose details of budgetary allocations and actual spending by his predecessor between 2015 and 2019, including specific projects carried out to improve primary education in Delta State, and the locations of such projects.”

The judgment was delivered by Justice Daniel Osiagor, following a Freedom of Information suit number: FHC/L/CS/803/2019, and held that, “SERAP has cognisable legal right to inquire and know the way and manner public institutions manage public funds. I must say that every citizen has a duty to demand transparency and accountability in the governance of public institutions.”

Justice Osiagor also stated that “Why should a request for details of disbursement and spending of public funds between 2015-2019 by Delta State be a cause of litigation for four years? Public officials are fast developing a state of anomie and cold feet when confronted with requests for audit reports of public duties and budgets.”

He ordered the Delta State government to “disclose how the Okowa government spent over N7.28 billion received from UBEC between 2015 and 2017, and N213 billion received from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) in 2018, at an average of N17.8 billion monthly.”

SERAP’s suit followed the case of seven-year-old Success Adegor, who was sent home because her parents could not pay the illegal school fee/levy of N900 and the poor quality of her Okotie-Eboh Primary School 1. Miss Success had, in a viral video in March 2019, said, “No be say I no go pay, dem go flog, flog, flog, dem go tire.”

Justice Osiagor ordered the government to “disclose details of the primary schools that have benefited from the projects carried out on access to free and quality primary education in Delta State, and information on indirect costs, including uniforms, exercise books, and transport costs to students and their parents.”

The judge also ordered the government to “disclose specific details of the steps Delta State Government is taking to improve the overall welfare of children in primary schools across Delta State, including details of government’s fee-free programme, if any, across primary schools in Delta State.”

He dismissed all the objections raised by the Delta State government, UBEC and the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board and upheld SERAP’s arguments. Consequently, the court entered judgment in favour of SERAP against the three respondents.

“SERAP’s application cures so much disinformation in the public space. The request by SERAP falls within the categories of records accessible by the public.

“However, public institutions are becoming increasingly hysterical upon any request served on them for information bordering on accountability.

“The arguments of the Delta State government and the Delta State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) that the Freedom of Information Act applies to only Federal Government officials cannot be sustained as public institutions are defined in Section 31 of the Interpretation section to include State institutions,” the court held.