A civil rights group, Centre for Social Justice, has dragged the Minister<\/p>\n
of Agricultural and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe before the Federal
\nHigh Court in Abuja over N25billion egg production contract he awarded to
\na firm.<\/p>\n
The group, in the suit marked FCH\/ABJ\/CS\/ 520 \/2016, is seeking leave of
\nthe court to apply for an order of mandamus compelling the Minister to
\nrelease details and copy of the N25bn contract he signed with Tuns Farms
\nNigeria Limited.<\/p>\n
The said contract was supposedly aimed at facilitating egg production in
\nthe country on a project tagged National Egg Production Scheme, NEGPRO.
\nSpecifically, the plaintiff, through its lawyer, Mr. Kingsley Nnajiaka, is
\npraying the court to compel the Respondent to furnish it with a copy of
\nthe signed agreement, the contact address of the company, newspaper where
\nthe procurement contract was advertised and the criteria for selecting
\nTuns Farms for the project.<\/p>\n
The plaintiff anchored its request on provisions of sections 1, 20 and 21
\nof the freedom of information act, 2011, sections 48(1), 51 of the Fiscal
\nResponsibility Act of 2007 and under the inherent jurisdiction of the
\ncourt.<\/p>\n
It is urging the court to among other things, issue \u201ca declaration that
\ndenying the Applicant access to the details and the copy of N25 billion
\n(Twenty Five Billion Naira) contract the Honourable Minister signed with
\nTuns Farms Nigeria Limited to facilitate egg production in the country on
\nthe project called National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) without
\nexplanation constitutes an infringement of the Applicant\u2019s right
\nguaranteed and protected by section 1 (1) of the Freedom of Information
\nAct 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cA declaration that the continued refusal of the Respondent to grant to
\nthe Applicant access to the details and the copy of N25 billion (Twenty
\nFive Billion Naira ) contract the Honourable Minister signed with Tuns
\nFarms Nigeria Limited to facilitate egg production in the country on the
\nproject called National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO)despite Applicant\u2019s
\ndemand violates Section 4 of the Freedom of Information Act, 2011.<\/p>\n
\u201cA declaration that the continued refusal of the Respondent to grant
\naccess to the Applicant of the details and the copy of N25 billion (Twenty
\nFive Billion Naira ) contract the Honourable Minister signed with Tuns
\nFarms Nigeria Limited to facilitate egg production in the country on the
\nproject called National Egg Production Scheme (NEGPRO) without explanation
\nconstitutes an infringement of the Applicant\u2019s right guaranteed and
\nprotected by Section 48 of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007.<\/p>\n
As well as, \u201cAn order compelling the Respondent to pay to the Applicant
\nthe Sum of N500, 000 (Five Hundred Thousand Naira) as damages for denying
\nthe Applicant access to information\u201d.<\/p>\n
The plaintiff told the court that it had after the Minister informed the
\ngeneral public that he signed the egg production contract, approached him
\nto furnish it with the details.<\/p>\n
It said that a letter it wrote to the Minister under the Freedom of
\nInformation Act, 2011, requesting for details of the contract especially
\nhow Tuns Farms Nigeria Limited was selected for the contract and if the
\ncontract was advertised in any newspaper in compliance with the provisions
\nof Public Procurement Act, was ignored.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the suit is yet to be assigned to any judge for hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A civil rights group, Centre for Social Justice, has dragged the Minister of Agricultural and Rural Development, Chief Audu Ogbe before the Federal High Court in Abuja over N25billion egg…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":51430,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-51429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exclusive"],"yoast_head":"\n