President Bola Tinubu has been sued by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project for allegedly failing to bring charges against contractors who were given over N167 billion by 31 ministries, departments, and agencies for unfinished projects.
The Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, was named as a respondent in the case, which was filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos (suit number FHC/L/MISC/121/2025).
It was outlined in a press release on Sunday headed, “SERAP Sues Tinubu Over Failure to Prosecute Contractors in N167bn Project Fraud in MDAs.”
Kolawole Oluwadare, the deputy director of SERAP, signed the statement, which calls on the court to order Tinubu to order Wale Edun, the minister of finance and the economy’s coordinating minister, to publicly identify the contractors in question and see to it that they are prosecuted.
Additionally, the group is requesting a court order for Edun to disclose information about the projects, such as their locations, the sums paid to each contractor, and the names of the stockholders.
The suit read, “The allegations of corruption involving many companies and contractors who collected over N167 billion from 31 MDAs have continued to impair, obstruct and undermine access of poor Nigerians to public goods and services.
“Holding the companies and contractors who collected over N167bn from 31 MDAs but disappeared with the money would prevent and combat waste, fraud, and abuse in the spending of public funds.
“There is a legitimate public interest in not shielding or allowing ingrained wrongdoing by companies and contractors to go unpunished.
“The consequences of corruption are felt by citizens on a daily basis. Corruption exposes them to additional costs to pay for health, education and administrative services.
“The allegations suggest a grave violation of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended), the country’s anticorruption legislation and international anticorruption obligations.”
The Nigerian Bulk Electricity Trading Plc. alone reportedly disbursed N100 billion to companies for unexecuted projects, according to SERAP’s 2021 Audited Report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, which was published on November 13, 2024, and showed that 31 MDAs paid a total of over N167 billion for projects that were never completed.
According to SERAP, it is a serious breach of the Nigerian Constitution, anti-corruption legislation, and international commitments under the United Nations Convention against Corruption to permit businesses and contractors to escape punishment for embezzlement of public funds.
Among the other MDAs involved are the Nigerian Correctional Service; Federal College of Land Resources Technology, Owerri; Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP) Office; Petroleum Technology Development Fund (PTDF); Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development; National Pension Commission, Abuja; Federal Medical Center, Niger State; National Center for Women’s Development; Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution; Federal University of Gashua; National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB); and Ministry of Niger Delta Affairs.