A civil society
organisation, Socio-Economic Rights, and Accountability Project, says the
National Assembly violated the fundamental rights of Nigerians by cutting the
proposed allocations for essential public services, including health,
education, housing and security, to the tune of N19.15bn in the 2018 budget
presented by President Muhammadu Buhari.
SERAP, in a statement on
Thursday by its Deputy Director, Timothy Adewale, said the action of the
federal lawmakers qualified as crime against humanity and should as such be
referred to the International Criminal Court.
The group expressed dismay
that the federal lawmakers “padded” the 2018 budget to the tune of N578bn by
inserting 6,403 projects of their own, barely a month after the Federal High
Court in Lagos ordered that the principal officers of the National Assembly
that allegedly padded the 2016 budget to the tune of N481bn should be
prosecuted.
SERAP urged Buhari to not
only instruct the Attorney General of the Federation to refer the 2018 budget
cut to the ICC, but to also comply with the judgment of Justice Mohammed Idris
of the Federal High Court in Lagos, who ordered that all the lawmakers culpable
in the padding of the 2016 budget should be prosecuted.
The group said it believed
that it was the failure to decisively address the padding of the 2016 budget
that emboldened the lawmakers to do the same with the 2018 budget.
SERAP said, “The
deliberate and systematic acts of alleged budget padding and cutting of funding
by the lawmakers coupled with the widespread negative consequences of such acts
for millions of Nigerians across the country point to not only allegations of
corruption but also crimes against humanity, that is, deliberately withholding
access of Nigerians to essential and life-saving public services, which is
triable at the International Criminal Court.
“Apart from pursuing a
possible crime against humanity prosecution before the ICC, President Buhari
should also move swiftly to enforce the judgment delivered last month by
Justice Mohammed Idris in Suit No: FHC/L/CS/1821/2017, ordering the President
to ask anti-corruption agencies to forward to him reports of their
investigations into allegations of padding and stealing of some N481 billion
from the 2016 budget, and to ensure effort prosecution of suspects.
“It is the failure to
decisively address allegations of padding of the 2016 budget that has allowed
the practice to continue with almost absolute impunity.
“Combating impunity of
lawmakers for allegations of budget padding is important for ending the
practice and deterring future lawmakers from using their legislative functions
as a weapon for promoting personal gains and denying Nigerians access to
critical and life-saving public services.”
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