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Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has said that it is unfair to pay the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari (retd.), governors, and lawmakers huge salaries, then pay judges less. The group also urged Chairman, Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission, Elias Mbam, to “urgently review upward the remuneration, allowances, and conditions of service for Nigerian judges, and to review downward the remuneration and allowances of high-ranking political office-holders in order to address the persistent poor treatment of judges, and to improve access of victims of corruption to justice.” SERAP also urged him “ to send your review and recommendations to the National Assembly for appropriate remedial and legislative action, as provided for by the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended).” SERAP said the letter followed the nationwide industrial action by the Judiciary Staff Union of Nigeria over financial autonomy for the judicial arm of government.

Several human rights advocates, including the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, hailed the Nigerian Bar Association for withdrawing its invitation to Kaduna State Governor, Nasir El-Rufai, who was scheduled to speak at its Annual General Conference next week. The NBA in a tweet on Thursday said it had decided to remove El-Rufai from the list of its speakers, adding that the decision would be communicated to the governor. The tweet read, “The National Executive Committee of the Nigerian Bar Association at its ongoing meeting resolves that the invitation to the Kaduna State Governor, H.E. Nasir El-Rufai by the 2020 Annual General Conference Planning Committee be withdrawn and the decision communicated to the governor.” A petition to stop the governor from attending the conference, which was started by a lawyer, Usani Odum, had garnered over 3,400 signatures on Change.Org as of 6 pm on Thursday. In a separate letter titled, ‘Request to Withdraw the Offer of Platform at the...

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, (SERAP) has sent an open letter to the World Bank President Mr David Malpass, urging him to use his “good offices to encourage the Federal Government and 36 state governments to publicly commit to transparency and accountability in the spending of the $114.28m credit and grant for COVID-19, which the Bank’s Board of Directors recently approved for Nigeria, including by publishing details on a dedicated websit". SERAP also urged Mr Malpass to “put pressure on authorities and the 36 state governors to accept voluntary scrutiny by Nigerians and civil society regarding the spending of the funds and use of the resources, including on how they will spend the money to buy medical equipment, and improve access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene" The World Bank Board of Directors last Friday approved a $114.28 financing “to help Nigeria prevent, detect and respond to the threat posed by COVID-19 with a specific focus on state level...

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given President Muhammadu Buhari 14 days to “direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to urgently investigate allegations that over N300bn of public funds are missing, mismanaged, diverted or stolen, as documented in the 2017 audited report by the Auditor General of the Federation (AGF).”