Press
Release
Abuja, Nigeria, September 19 2013
- Following the resumption of Nigerian lawmakers from their six weeks recess,
Nigeria’s most active youth coalition on Constitution Review and electoral
reform, the Youth Alliance on Constitution & Electoral Reform (YACORE), a
coalition of over 60 youth civil society organizations committed to
constitutional & electoral reform, electoral justice and public
accountability has forwarded a request made in line with the provision of the
Freedom of Information Act, 2011, to the leadership of the Senate and House of
Representatives. The youth coalition requested the National Assembly to publish
the following information within its custody;
a. The
actual budgetary appropriation for the ongoing Constitution review;
b. The
actual budgetary allocation to the Senate and House Committee on Constitution
Review;
c. A
financial report of expenditures made so far from the budget on Constitution
Review and funds received from donor organizations;
d. The
voting records of constitutional amendments by Distinguished Senators and
Honourable Members.
In
a letter addressed to the Senate President, Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Clerk of the National Assembly and signed by the
National Coordinator of the coalition, Barrister Samson Itodo, YACORE stated that
the request was informed by the ardent need to hold elected representatives
accountable to the people.
In
a democracy, citizens have the right to demand fiscal responsibility and
transparency from their representatives. The fact that the Constitution review
process is largely funded with tax payer’s money makes it mandatory for the
National Assembly to give an account of its expenditure to the citizenry.
The
group cautioned against any attempt by the National Assembly to decline the
request made in line with the provisions of the law. Speaking on behalf of the coalition, its
National Coordinator, Samson Itodo said the National Assembly is a creation of
law empowered to legislate and make laws for the governance of the country. Consequently,
it must act within and under the law at all times.
Sections 4 of the FOI Act
2011 clearly provides that ‘where information is applied for under the
Act, the public institution to which the application is made shall within 7
days after the application is received make the information available to the
applicant’.
Any
non-disclosure of
the requested information is a violation of the provisions of the Freedom of
Information Act, 2011. As a coalition, we shall be compelled to take lawful and
necessary steps to compel the National Assembly to disclose the information if
they fail to accede to our demands within seven days as stipulated by the law.
The
Deputy National Coordinator of YACORE, Bukhari Mohammed Jega stated that there
are speculations suggesting that over N5 billion have been expended on the
ongoing constitution review. However, advocacy cannot be based on mere speculations
but on verified and confirmed figures, that is why we have approached the
National Assembly to honourably publish its budget and expenditures on the
Constitution review process.
Speaking
from Edo State, South-South Zonal Coordinator, Mr. Purpose Osamwonyi emphasized
the need for the National Assembly to build public trust and confidence by
acceding to requests made to her to publish her financial earnings, budget and
expenditures.
He encouraged Nigerians to be concerned about the outcome of the
ongoing review process. If the outcome does not reflect our yearnings and
aspirations as a people, it means we have wasted and plundered our resources to
serve the economic interests of 469 legislators at the expense of the Nigerian people.
The
group called on all Nigerians to join the #OurNASS protest to the National
Assembly holding next Thursday 26th September 2013 by 10am. The
protest organized by different coalitions across Nigeria aims at placing fiscal
accountability demands before National Assembly.
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