Account For N900bn Spent On Power Privatisation, Court Tells Fashola

Minister of Power Babatunde Fashola

The Federal High Court in Lagos has constrained the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), to represent the cash spent on power privatization. 

The court gave the request on Tuesday following the becoming aware of a contention in court on exparte movement by Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) guide Bamisope Adeyanju. 

Hon. Equity C.J. Aneke conceded SERAP leave to look for legal audit and request of mandamus to force Fashola over the "inability to represent the spending on the privatization of the power segment and the correct measure of post-privatization spending on age organizations (GENCOS), conveyance organizations (DISCOS) and Transmission Company of Nigeria to date, and to clarify if such spending originated from budgetary distributions or different sources." 

Equity Aneke likewise decided that Fashola be put on notice and deferred the issue to Tuesday twentieth November 2018 for notice. 

The suit pursued SERAP's Freedom of Information ask for dated 7 May 2018 to Fashola allowing him 14 days to give "data on the status of execution of the 25-year national vitality improvement plan, and whether the Code of Ethics of the privatization procedure which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and individuals from the National Council on Privatization (NCP) from purchasing partakes in organizations being privatized were purposely spurned." 

SERAP affirmed that the Goodluck Jonathan government apparently spent over N400 billion on the power division while the Buhari government spent over N500 billion on the part notwithstanding privatization