Across the world, Civil Society Organisations engage in advocacy and offer alternative policies for governments, public and private institutions. In Nigeria, one of such CSOs is the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project , which has been consistent in its mission since 2004.
Oluwadare explained: “They are primarily to sensitise the public about issues of public interest and to create legal jurisprudence and precedents that can help improve our legal system.” The Federal High Court in Lagos had ordered former Attorney-General of the Federation, Abubakar Malami , to challenge the legality of states’ pension laws.Subsequently, a former Ogun State Governor, Gbenga Daniel, asked the state government to stop the payment of his monthly pension.
The NGO stressed that receiving a life pension while serving as a minister or Senator is forbidden by the 1999 Constitution. It filed a suit at the Federal High Court in Abuja, asking the Buhari Administration to account for the $460 million Chinese loan obtained to fund the failed Abuja CCTV contract.
Another significant case was the suit by SERAP praying the court to order the previous administrations of Olusegun Obasanjo, Musa Yar’Adua, Goodluck Jonathan and Buhari to account for $5billion Sani Abacha loot. Justice Omotosho held: “In the final analysis, the application by SERAP is meritorious and the Federal Government through the Ministry of Finance is hereby ordered to furnish SERAP with the full spending details of about $5 billion Abacha loot within seven days of this judgment.”
In the letter dated 8 July 2023 sent to President Tinubu and signed by Oluwadare, the organisation said: “We urge you to demonstrate your expressed commitment to the rule of law by immediately obeying and respecting the judgment of the court. He ordered the state government to “disclose how the Okowa government spent over N7.28 billion received from UBEC between 2015 and 2017, and N213 billion received from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee in 2018, at an average of N17.8 billion monthly.”