The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged President Bola Tinubu to reject the recently approved 1.08 billion dollar World Bank loan and instead direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, as well as appropriate anti-corruption agencies, to promptly investigate the allegations that over 233 billion naira of public funds are missing, diverted, or unaccounted for by the Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc., Abuja, and other Ministries, Departments, and Agencies (MDAs).
This request comes in light of the World Bank’s approval of the $1.08 billion loan for Nigeria, aimed at enhancing education quality, building household and community resilience, and improving nutrition for underserved groups.
In a letter signed by SERAP Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation stated that the loan is neither necessary nor in the public interest, especially given Nigeria’s crippling debt burden and the staggering amount of missing public funds from MDAs that the government has failed to investigate or recover.
SERAP further stressed that anyone found responsible for the misappropriation should face prosecution, should there be sufficient admissible evidence, and that any missing public funds should be fully recovered and remitted to the treasury. The organisation suggested that the recovered 233 billion naira could be used to fund the deficit in the 2025 budget and help ease Nigeria’s growing debt crisis.