Economic Hardship: SERAP Threatens To Sue 36 State Govs Over N30 Billion Allocation

The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has threatened to take legal action against Nigerian state governors regarding the N30 billion allocated to them to tackle the escalating food prices in their respective states.

SERAP insists that the governors must be held accountable for the funds received from the Federal Government, which are separate from their regular allocations.

The civil society organization clarified in a statement made available on Wednesday that it was suing the state leaders to compel them to account for the money the President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio, claimed was given to them by the federal government.

“We’re suing Nigeria’s state governors to compel them to account for the N30 billion that Mr Godswill Akpabio reportedly said each governor has received from the Federal Government [outside their normal allocations] to address the high cost of food in their states,” SERAP said on Wednesday.

Naija News understands that earlier on Wednesday, Akpabio announced that the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) had allocated an extra N30 billion to the 36 state governors to address the food scarcity crisis in the country.

During a federal lawmakers’ plenary session, Akpabio attributed the protests in major cities against increasing hunger and hardship to political stakeholders. He emphasized that the additional funds provided to the governors were separate from their regular monthly allocations and advised them against misusing the funds for purposes other than alleviating food shortages.

He said, “We can see a lot of protests here and there, most of those sponsored protests are not aware of the kind of efforts being made by this Senate to tackle the situation together with a joint management team of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

“I must say that unverified report has it that each of the state governments in the last few months has received an additional N30 billion from Federal Inland Revenue Service, outside their normal allocation from the federation account to assist them in ameliorating the food situation, we believed that every state government should utilise the funds so received towards ensuring that food is available.”

“This Senate will not rubber-stamp anything that we feel is not in the interest of Nigeria.”