{"id":16897,"date":"2019-04-14T16:23:10","date_gmt":"2019-04-14T16:23:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16897"},"modified":"2019-04-14T16:23:10","modified_gmt":"2019-04-14T16:23:10","slug":"serap-demands-disclosure-on-security-votes-by-fg-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=16897","title":{"rendered":"SERAP demands disclosure on \u2018security votes\u2019 by FG, States"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested the disclosure of spendings on security vote between 2011 and 2019 from President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 state governors.<br \/>\nIn the multiple requests made under the Freedom of Information Act on 12 April, the group said: \u201cGiven the current security realities in the country, we need the information to determine if public funds meant to provide security and ensure respect and protection of the rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty of Nigerians have been spent for this purpose. Our request is limited to details of visible, specific security measures and projects executed and does not include spending on intelligence operations.\u201d<br \/>\nThe letters were signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare.<br \/>\nThe organisation said: \u201c\u2019Section 14(2)(b) of the 1999 Nigerian Constitution (as amended) provides that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.\u2019 It is the security of the citizens that is intended and not the security of select individuals in public office. SERAP believes that transparency and accountability in the spending of security votes are critically important to fully implement this responsibility imposed on both the federal and state governments.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWe are concerned that rather than serving the citizens, the appropriation of public funds as security votes over the years would seem to serve high-ranking government officials at all levels\u2014federal and states. We are also concerned that the practice of security votes entrusts discretionary powers to spend huge public funds on certain elected public officials who may not have any idea of operational issues on security matters.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSERAP urges you to open-up on the matter and provide information and documents as requested. This will be one step in the right direction. Unless the information is urgently provided, Nigerians would continue to see the appropriation of public funds as security votes and the institutionalisation of this cash in \u2018Ghana Must Go bags\u2019 practice as a tool for self-enrichment.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cWe would be grateful if the requested information is provided to us within 7 days of the receipt and\/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, the Registered Trustees of SERAP shall take all appropriate legal action under the Freedom of Information Act to compel you to comply with our request.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cThe most general purpose of State power is to provide security for citizens and other residents and to enable them lead a life that is meaningful to them. However, the growing level of insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in Zamfara State and other parts of Nigeria suggest that successive governments\u2014at both federal and state levels\u2014have been unwilling or unable to satisfactorily implement this fundamental constitutional commitment.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSERAP believes that there is a strong link between corruption and insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in several parts of the country. Available evidence would seem to suggest that many of the tiers of government in Nigeria have used security votes as a conduit for grand corruption rather than spending the funds to improve and enhance national security and ensure full protection of Nigerians\u2019 rights to life, physical integrity, and liberty. In fact, former governor of Kano State Musa Kwankwaso once described security votes as \u2018another way of stealing public funds\u2019.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cThe huge financial resources budgeted for \u2018security votes\u2019 by successive governments\u2014at both federal and state levels\u2013have not matched the security realities, especially given the level of insecurity, violence, kidnappings and killings in many parts of the country. The current security realities in the country would seem to suggest massive political use, mismanagement or stealing of security votes by many governments.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSERAP believes that the Federal government and state governments ought to push for transparency and accountability in the spending of security votes both at the federal and state levels, if any such funds are to be properly spent to promote and ensure sustainable peace and security for the people of Nigeria.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cSERAP believes that by providing the information, your government would help put an end to any insinuation that security votes are spent on political activities, mismanaged or stolen. This would in turn contribute to better opportunities for citizens to assess the level of spending and commitment of successive governments to ensuring the security of lives and property of the people.\u201d<br \/>\nBy\u00a0<strong>NAN<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has requested the disclosure of spendings on security vote between 2011 and 2019 from President Muhammadu Buhari and the 36 state governors. In the multiple requests made under the Freedom of Information Act on 12 April, the group said: \u201cGiven the current security realities in the country, we need [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":16898,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}