Court grants SERAP leave to compel Fashola over ‘N900bn spent on power privatisation’



There is prospect Nigerians keen on knowing why the power sector reforms in the country have not yielded any tangible result and why the citizens continue to stay in darkness but still made to pay crazy electricity bills, despite the huge spending on the sector, may soon have some answers, as the Federal High Court in Ikoyi, Lagos today granted leave to Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) to seek its reliefs to compel the Minister of Power, Works and Housing Mr Babatunde Fashola SAN to account for the spending.


Hon. Justice C.J. Aneke granted SERAP leave as prayed to seek judicial review and order of mandamus to compel Mr Fashola over the “failure to account for the spending on the privatisation of the electricity sector and the exact amount of post-privatisation spending on generation companies (GENCOS), distribution companies (DISCOS) and Transmission Company of Nigeria to date, and to explain if such spending came from budgetary allocations or other sources.”


Justice Aneke granted the order for leave following the hearing of an argument in court on exparte motion by SERAP counsel Ms Bamisope Adeyanju. The Court also ruled that Mr Fashola be put on notice and adjourned the matter to Tuesday 20th November 2018 for mention.



It would be recalled that SERAP had in June sued Mr Fashola in suit number FHC/L/CS/972/18 at the Federal High Court seeking “an order for leave to apply for judicial review and an order of mandamus directing and/or compelling Mr Fashola to provide specific details on the privatization of the electricity sector, the names of all the companies and individuals involved; and to publish widely including on a dedicated website any such information.”


The suit followed SERAP’s Freedom of Information request dated 7 May 2018 to Mr Fashola giving him 14 days to provide “information on the status of implementation of the 25-year national energy development plan, and whether the Code of Ethics of the privatization process which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) from buying shares in companies being privatized were deliberately flouted.”


The suit read in part: “Most of the companies that won the bids had no prior experience in the power sector and little or no capacity at all to manage the sector. The privatization of the Power Holding Company of Nigeria (PHCN) have yielded the country total darkness. The gains of privatization have been lost through alleged corruption, manipulation of rules and disregard to extant laws and lack of transparency in the exercise.”



“The Goodluck Jonathan government reportedly spent over N400 billion on the power sector while the present government spent over N500 billion on the sector despite privatisation. It is unclear if this spending is drawn from budgetary allocations and if these are loans to generation companies (GENCOS), Distribution companies (DISCOS) and Transmission Company of Nigeria.”



“Publishing the information requested and making it widely available to the public would serve the public interest and provide insights relevant to the public debate on the ongoing efforts to prevent and combat a culture of mismanagement of public funds, corruption and impunity of perpetrators.”



“To further highlight the seriousness of the situation, several years after the country’s power sector was privatized, millions of Nigerian households particularly the socially and economically vulnerable sectors of the population continue to complain about outrageous bills for electricity not consumed, and poor power supply from distribution firms. Millions of Nigerians continue to be exploited through the use of patently illegal estimated billing by DISCOs. One wonders the essence of the privatization if there has been no corresponding improvement in power for Nigerians.”



“Enforcing the right to truth would allow Nigerians to gain access to information essential to the fight against corruption and provide a form of reparation to victims of grand corruption in the power sector. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in its General Comment 3 has implied that privatization process should not be detrimental to the effective realization of all human rights, including access to regular electricity supply.”



“SERAP has the right to request the information under contention on the basis of several provisions of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, 2011. By Section (1) of the FoI Act, SERAP is entitled as of right to request for or gain access to information, including information on post-privatization spending by the Federal Government and accounts of spending on the private entities such as GENCOS and DISCOS.”



The suit is seeking the following reliefs:



1. A DECLARATION that the failure of the Respondent to furnish the Applicant with information on specific details on the spending on the privatization of the electricity sector, the exact amount of post-privatization spending to date and the names of all the companies and individuals involved; as well as explain if such spending came from budgetary allocations or other sources is unlawful as it contradicts and in conflict with the obligations of the Respondent under the Freedom of Information Act 2011.



2. A DECLARATION that the failure of the Respondent to furnish the Applicant with information on the details of spending on and status of implementation of the twenty-five (25) year national energy development plan is unlawful as it contradicts and in conflict with the obligations of the Respondent under the Freedom of Information Act 2011.



3. A DECLARATION that the failure of the Respondent to clarify to the Applicant the degree of compliance with the Code of Ethics of the privatization process which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) from buying shares in companies being privatized is unlawful as it contradicts and in conflict with the obligations of the Respondent under the Freedom of Information Act 2011.



4. AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS directing and/or compelling the Respondent to furnish the Applicant with information on specific details of spending on the privatization of the electricity sector, the exact amount of post-privatization spending to date and the names of all the companies and individuals involved; as well as to explain if such spending came from budgetary allocations or other sources, and to publish widely including on a dedicated website any such information.



5. AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS directing and/or compelling the Respondent to furnish the Applicant with information on the details of spending and status of implementation of the twenty-five (25) year national energy development plan, and to publish widely including on a dedicated website any such information.



6. AN ORDER OF MANDAMUS directing and/or compelling the Respondent to clarify the degree of compliance with the Code of Ethics of the privatization process which bars staff of the Bureau of Public Enterprises (BPE) and members of the National Council on Privatization (NCP) from buying shares in companies being privatized.



“The privatization of power assets has already caused major crises, ranging from illiquidity, load rejection, metering problems, corrupt practices, lack of gas to power the stations, disinterestedness of investors, lack of injection of fresh capital after acquisition of financing, tariff interest, consumer apathy, foreign exchange hostilities, and a host of other sundry issues associated with it.”

http://serap-nigeria.org/court-grants-serap-leave-to-compel-fashola-over-n900bn-spent-on-power-privatisation.ngo/

FTC. We need to get things right in this country. What kind of poo is this?. Must a court compel a public servant that is paid from the public treasury before doing what is needful. How deep we have regressed.
Even though these spending were not done during the APC time in government, but transparency and decorum should have set in. Undercut dealings and others must have exchanged hands.
Need I remind us I support APC and I still do. But what is bad is bad. We need to know where and what these spending were for and how far we have progressed or regressed as far as the issue of power is concern.
It is everybody's concern.
PDP led us to where we are today. But the APC should fix the mess. Although, the dirt is being washed, let there be transparency and accountability. We are watching.
Modified, this is the breakdown as accused by SERAP
Goodluck Jonathan spent N400bn
Buhari N500bn
Aside the $16bn Obasanjo spent.
I weep.

www.nairaland.com/attachments/8005718_20181023073438_jpeg4fd6e5e3acb716d908586edf4adbd5d1

www.nairaland.com/attachments/7892681_img20181003wa0009_jpeg92eaf2d2ca90bb3dc1301a565951f9a6

https:///+2347011116171

yjgm:
Na Wa o.

CarGuidNG:

I

Which network are the two of you using?

Thought I made FTC .


Let me read, I will come back to comment my real comment

For the past two days, no light here in ejigbo

Mr Rocket Science.

Fashola case should be a clear warning for anybody wishing to learn from others stupidity.

Never make much noise on what you don't know anything about. Lagos state government cannot be compared to the rigours of Nigerians in general. Beside, if not that Nigerian politicians lack integrity, what's a lawyer doing in power ministry? Fashola would have rejected that post to maintain his good profile.

Now PMB has rubished it. I remembered all hard work of prof Barth Nnaji in that ministry. How would Fashola who knows no jack in engineering compare with that man really beat my imagination.

400 billion.. 500 billion.. My account balance 400 naira.
Chai.

So sad....

If APC leave power next year there corruption will be ×10 more than pdp

H

APC nd corruption be like.....it's u nd I 2geda 4eva

imagine after spending N900billion on power still i still dey run generator everynight.... In lifeless voice "Where is the power?"

This is a terrible situation.

Lol. Oya

I love this!
Na this kind thing I dey like.

God bless Nigeria!

Rocket Science

Gej gave 400b naira to discos for start up capital ,
can you imagine?
And pej is the owner of bedc,
No more corrupt money to run discos, that is why we are darkness.

And buhari trying to help by giving them loan to tune of 700b naira, not 500b naira.
And discos still remain failure,
The only solution now, is for bpe not to renew their license.

Nice one. Fashola thought it’s rocket science

Emperorempower:
I

Which network are the two of you using?

Thought I made FTC .


Let me read, I will come back to comment my real comment

Try harder next time. I am FTC.
Mind you, I use the much maligned network on data, GLo.

900b? Mogbe...APC don finish this country

Why is it that lots of us lack basic comprehension? This is not about this administration but what the past administrations spent. The present government did not do the privatization, it was done before now. Fashola is being mentioned because he is the present minister. The account has to do with past spending.

proxillin:
900b? Mogbe...APC don finish this country

Yes, o gbe. Not because of the 900b but because, you cannot read and understand.

imagine that huge some ....

Geeoriginal:
Why is it that lots of us lack basic comprehension? This is not about this administration but what the past administrations spent. The present government did not do the privatization, it was done before now. Fashola is being mentioned because he is the present minister. The account has to do with past spending.

The Goodluck Jonathan government reportedly spent over N400 billion on the power sector while the present government spent over N500 billion on the sector despite privatisation.

So why is someone asking OBJ for 26b when they have spent 500b

Geeoriginal:

Yes, o gbe. Not because of the 900b but because, you cannot read and understand.

So why is someone asking OBJ for 26b when they have spent 500b

Zombies will tell you the money was used to build power plants, but we are still able to generate only 3500+ MW for the past 3 years.

proxillin:


The Goodluck Jonathan government reportedly spent over N400 billion on the power sector while the present government spent over N500 billion on the sector despite privatisation.

So why is someone asking OBJ for 26b when they have spent 500b

We are asking and still asking Obasanjo to account for a whooping $16bn not N26bn. Hope you understand now.

yjgm:
FTC. We need to get things right in this country. What kind of poo is this?. Must a court compel a public servant that is paid from the public treasury before doing what is needful. How deep we have regressed.
Even though these spending were not done during the APC time in government, but transparency and decorum should have set in. Undercut dealings and others must have exchanged hands.
Need I remind us I support APC and I still do. But what is bad is bad. We need to know where and what these spending were for and how far we have progressed or regressed as far as the issue of power is concern.
It is everybody's concern.
PDP led us to where we are today. But the APC should fix the mess. Although, the dirt is being washed, let there be transparency and accountability. We are watching.
Modified, this is the breakdown as accused by SERAP
Goodluck Jonathan spent N400bn
Buhari N500bn
Aside the $16bn Obasanjo spent.
I weep.

Obasanjo didn't spend $16b. Obasanjo looted that $16b.

Likewise Jonathan looted his own too