{"id":75055,"date":"2020-07-26T16:15:14","date_gmt":"2020-07-26T15:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/?p=75055"},"modified":"2020-07-26T16:15:14","modified_gmt":"2020-07-26T15:15:14","slug":"serap-asks-lawan-gbajabiamila-to-publish-reports-on-corruption-probes-seeks-special-counsel-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/serap-asks-lawan-gbajabiamila-to-publish-reports-on-corruption-probes-seeks-special-counsel-bill\/","title":{"rendered":"SERAP asks Lawan, Gbajabiamila to publish reports on corruption probes, seeks special counsel bill"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent<\/div>\n
\n
Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad
\nLawan; and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila,
\nurging them to use their “good offices and leadership positions to
\nurgently publish all reports of completed public hearings and corruption
\nprobes by the National Assembly since the return of democracy in 1999.”<\/p>\n

The organization also urged them to “disclose the number and details of
\npublic hearings and corruption probes by the National Assembly that have
\nresulted in an indictment of suspects and to name such suspects. The
\nreports should be sent to appropriate anti-corruption agencies to
\nconsider if there is sufficient admissible evidence to pursue
\nprosecution.”<\/p>\n

In the FoI requests dated 25 July 2020 and signed by SERAP deputy
\ndirector Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization said: “Publishing the
\nreports of hearings and probes would bolster public trust and confidence
\nin the oversight functions, and dispel the perception that many of these
\nhearings and probes are politically motivated and serve a personal
\ninterest, rather than the general public interests.”<\/p>\n

SERAP said: “The most effective way to deter corruption is to make the
\ncost of engaging in these types of acts higher than the rewards. This
\nend can only be accomplished by making public the reports and pursuing
\npublic accountability for corrupt acts. Doing so would also give
\nNigerians greater confidence that their lawmakers can use their
\nconstitutional oversight functions to address corruption in Nigeria.”<\/p>\n

The FoI requests, read in part: “We urge you to sponsor a resolution to
\nstop lawmakers from directly getting involved in the execution of
\nprojects by ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs) to ensure the
\nproper and effective exercise of oversight functions, including
\ninvestigations of corruption allegations, such as those involving the
\nNiger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) and Nigeria Social Insurance
\nTrust Fund (NSITF).”<\/p>\n

“We also urge you to urgently use the opportunity of the ongoing public
\nhearings and corruption probes to influence Nigeria’s anti-corruption
\nagenda, including by immediately amending section 52 of the Independent
\nCorrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Act on independent counsel
\nfor corruption.”<\/p>\n

“Section 52 requires the Chief Justice of Nigeria to authorize an
\nindependent counsel to investigate any allegation of corruption against
\nhigh-level public officials, and to report his\/her findings to the
\nNational Assembly or appropriate house of assembly.”<\/p>\n

“The proposed amendment should include additional requirements beyond
\nmerely reporting to lawmakers, that would allow the independent counsel
\nto use the findings of any investigation as a basis to pursue effective
\nprosecution of corruption cases without any authorization by the
\nexecutive or the National Assembly.”<\/p>\n

“SERAP notes that both the Senate and House of Representatives have over
\nthe years conducted several public hearings and corruption probes to
\nexpose the pervasive problem of corruption in MDAs.”<\/p>\n

“SERAP is concerned about the systemic and widespread corruption
\nallegations in MDAs and among high-ranking public officials, and the
\nnegative impacts on socio-economic development, as well as access of
\nNigerians to public goods and services, including quality education,
\nadequate healthcare, clean water, and regular electricity supply.”<\/p>\n

“We would be grateful if the requested information is provided to us
\nwithin 7 days of the receipt and\/or publication of the FoI requests. If
\nwe have not heard from you by then, the Registered Trustees of SERAP
\nshall take all appropriate legal actions under the Freedom of
\nInformation Act and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights to
\ncompel you to comply with our requests.”<\/p>\n

“The exercise of oversight functions and powers by the National Assembly
\nto conduct public hearings and corruption probes in MDAs should be
\nregarded as a public trust.”<\/p>\n

“The National Assembly has a unique opportunity to enhance transparency
\nand accountability, as well as the integrity of its oversight functions
\non corruption matters in particular, and other constitutional roles, in
\ngeneral, including by publishing widely the reports of all
\ncorruption-related public hearings since 1999.”<\/p>\n

“There is a legitimate public interest in the publication of the reports
\nof these public hearings and probes. The public hearings and probes can
\nonly serve as effective mechanisms to prevent and combat corruption if
\ntheir reports are widely published.”<\/p>\n

“By Section 1 (1) of the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act 2011, SERAP is
\nentitled as of right to request for or gain access to information,
\nincluding information on reports of all public hearings and corruption
\nprobes by the National Assembly since 1999.”<\/p>\n

“By Section 4 (a) of the FoI Act, when a person makes a request for
\ninformation from a public official, institution or agency, the public
\nofficial, institution or urgency to whom the application is directed is
\nunder a binding legal obligation to provide the applicant with the
\ninformation requested for, except as otherwise provided by the Act,
\nwithin 7 days after the application is received.”<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has sent Freedom of Information (FoI) requests to the Senate President, Dr. Ahmad Lawan; and Speaker of House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajabiamila, urging…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":56720,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nSERAP asks Lawan, Gbajabiamila to publish reports on corruption probes, seeks special counsel bill - Pointblank News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/pointblanknews.com\/pbn\/news\/serap-asks-lawan-gbajabiamila-to-publish-reports-on-corruption-probes-seeks-special-counsel-bill\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SERAP asks Lawan, Gbajabiamila to publish reports on corruption probes, seeks special counsel bill - 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