SAN FRANCISCO, January 10, (THEWILL) – Nigerian advocacy group, Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), on Sunday said President Muhammadu Buhari cannot borrow funds from dormant accounts or unclaimed dividends.
In a letter addressed to President Buhari and signed by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP said the right to property is a sacred and fundamental right.
It said borrowing unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts amount to an illegal expropriation, and would hurt poor and vulnerable Nigerians who continue to suffer under reduced public services.
The letter read in part: “The security of property, next to personal security against the exertions of government, is of the essence of liberty. It is next in degree to the protection of personal liberty and freedom from undue interference or molestation. Our constitutional jurisprudence rests largely upon its sanctity.
“Rather than pushing to borrow unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts, your government ought to move swiftly to cut the cost of governance, ensure review of jumbo salaries and allowances of all high-ranking political office holders, and address the systemic corruption in MDAs, as well as improve transparency and accountability in public spending.
“The borrowing also seems to be discriminatory, as it excludes government’s owned official bank accounts, and may exclude the bank accounts of high-ranking government officials and politicians, thereby violating constitutional and international prohibition of discrimination against vulnerable groups, to allow everyone to fully enjoy their right to property and associated rights on equal terms.
He said that SERAP has observed that the government has also repeatedly failed and/or refused to ensure transparency and accountability in the spending of recovered stolen assets, “and the loans so far obtained, which according to the Debt Management Office, currently stands at $31.98 billion.”
The organisation urged the government to send back the Finance Act to the National Assembly to “repeal the legislation and remove its unconstitutional and unlawful provisions, including Sections 60 and 77,” which do not seem to be in the best interests of most Nigerians.
“SERAP notes that while targeting the accounts of ordinary Nigerians, the Finance Act exempts official bank accounts owned by the federal government, state government or local governments or any of their ministries, departments or agencies,” the statement continued, adding,
“The government cannot lawfully enforce the provisions on Crisis Intervention Fund and Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund under the guise of a trust arrangement, as Section 44(2)(h) of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) is inapplicable, and cannot justify the establishment of these funds.
“According to our information, your government has reportedly completed plans to borrow an estimated N895bn of unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts using the Finance Act 2020 you recently signed into law.
“Under the law, the government will be able to access and take without consent unclaimed dividends and funds in dormant accounts in any bank, on the basis of the vague and undefined ‘Crisis Intervention Fund,’ and patently unlawful ‘Unclaimed Funds Trust Fund’.
“The government is justifying the borrowing on the ground that it would improve access of the Federal Government to much needed funds, and remove the burdens of foreign exchange and punitive loan conditions imposed by multilateral lenders.
“According to the Finance Act, the operation of the trust fund is to be supervised by the Debt Management Office (DMO) and governed by a governing council chaired by the finance minister and a co-chairperson from the private sector appointed by you.
“The Nigerian Constitution in Section 44(1) provides that, ‘no moveable property or any interest in an immovable property shall be taken possession of compulsorily and no right over or interest in any such property shall be acquired compulsorily in any part of Nigeria except in the manner and for the purposes prescribed by a law.
Citing relevant provisions in the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Nigerian Constitution and international human rights law, SERAP said, ” the ability of any government to interfere with private property without any legal justifications is limited.”
