The Minister of Finance, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, is facing contempt charges for disobeying a judgment on statutory transfers delivered at the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja in respect of a suit filed at the court by the Centre for Social Justice.
This follows a Notice of Consequences of disobedience to court order dated April 29 served the minister by the FHC.
The court, through an order of mandamus, dated February 25, compelled Okonjo-Iweala to grant the group access to the details of the statutory transfers in the 2013 appropriation act specifically.
The details of the transfers granted are for the National Judicial Council, Niger Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education, National Assembly, Independent National Electoral Commission and the National Human Rights Commission.
Justice Abdul Kafarati had on February 25, in line with the applicant’s prayers, granted relief that denying the applicant access to the details of the statutory transfers in the 2013 Appropriation Act by the respondent without explanation constituted an infringement to the applicants right guaranteed and protected by Section 1 of the Freedom of Information Act 2011.
The court also declared that the continued refusal of the respondents to grant the applicant access to details of statutory transfers in the 2013 appropriation act despite applicant’s demand violated section 4 of the FOI act.
Shedding more light on the court proceedings, the Lead Director, Centre for Social Justice, said in a statement on Wednesday in Abuja that since the order was made, the minister had refused to comply with the order.
He said, “Since the order was made, the minister has refused and neglected to comply with the order of the honorable court.
“Counsel for the applicant, Kingsley Nnajiaka even wrote a letter to the minister on the need to comply with the order of the court.
“Series of meetings were held in the ministers office without success. With this notice, the minister has two days to comply with the order of the honorable court or risk being committed for contempt of court.”
The group had demanded a breakdown of the sums of money earmarked in the 2012 Budget as Statutory Transfers.
They include the N150bn for the National Assembly and N85bn for the National Judicial Council, Niger Delta Development Commission, Universal Basic Education, and the Independent National Electoral Commission, which had allocations of N54bn, N68bn, and N40bn respectively.
source: nigerianeye
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