THE long battle to compel government to account for the $12.4 billion 1991 gulf war oil windfall in Nigeria recorded a major setback on Thursday, with the dismissal of a suit instituted by a group of civil society bodies at the Federal High Court in Abuja.
The coalition of six civil society groups, led by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, had sued Nigeria’s attorney-general and the Central Bank of Nigeria in September of 2010, seeking information on how $12.4 billion in oil windfall that accrued to the Nigerian government between 1988 and 1994 was spent.
“The diversion and/or mismanagement of the $12.4 billion oil windfall is a violation of Nigerians’ right to natural resources and wealth and to economic development, as recognized and guaranteed by 21 and 22 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act),” the groups said when the case was presented before the law court two years ago.
“Under the African Charter, the Nigerian government has a legal responsibility to utilize the natural resources of the country so as to benefit the whole people,” it added, saying “just as the people of every sovereign state have a permanent right to choose their form of government, so the people are entitled to insist that the natural resources of the nation be exploited in the interest of the people.”
The plaintiffs asked the court to compel the attorney-general and the Central Bank to make public the details of expenditure of the large sum of money made by the government of Nigeria from oil business during the period of the gulf war – precisely, it sought the details of what accrued to government coffers between 1988 and 1994.
They also prayed the court to compel the attorney-general to prosecute anyone found liable for the mismanagement of the said profits.
The case encountered several hitches while it lasted before Thursday’s dismissal by Justice Kolawole, who commended the plaintiffs for what he cited as their patriotism.
The case had generated considerable attention from public observers, no less because of the apparent target of the plaintiffs in the person of former military leader, General Ibrahim Babangida, under whose administration the oil windfall accrued.
The court did not sit to hear the case until July 24, 2011, almost a year after it was initially filed. It later continued in starts and stops, with the court failing to sit on a series of adjourned dates, the last being October 21 of 2012, when it was indefinitely adjourned due to an extant provision of the Nigerian Constitution.
“Every court established under this Constitution shall deliver its decision in writing not later than ninety days after the conclusion of evidence and final addresses and furnish all parties to the cause or matter determined with duly authenticated copies of the decision within seven days of the delivery thereof,” states the relevant section 94 (1) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended).
Reacting to the suit, the federal government contended that the report was missing, and that only the attorney general could make the kind of request that the group of plaintiffs made of the government. It also argued that the Abuja High Court had no jurisdiction to hear the suit.
In dismissing the suit on Thursday, presiding Justice Gabriel Kolawole averred that the plaintiffs lacked the locus standi to institute the case.
He however went further to commend the efforts of the group of civil society activists to demand accountability of the government, describing them as “patriotic citizens.”