By Anwar Usman
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has taken legal action against the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu, over his alleged failure to prosecute contractors who received over N167bn from 31 ministries, departments, and agencies for projects that were never executed.
The lawsuit, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos (suit number FHC/L/MISC/121/2025), also listed the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Lateef Fagbemi, SAN, as a respondent.
This was contained in a press release on Sunday titled, “SERAP Sues Tinubu Over Failure to Prosecute Contractors in N167bn Project Fraud in MDAs.”
The release, signed by Deputy Director, SERAP Kolawole Oluwadare, urges the court to compel Tinubu to direct the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy, Wale Edun, to publicly name the contractors involved and ensure their prosecution.
The organisation is also seeking a court order that’ll force Edun to publish details of the projects, together with their locations, the amounts received by each contractor, and the identities of the shareholders.
SERAP further argued that “The allegations of corruption involving these contractors have continued to impair, obstruct, and undermine the access of poor Nigerians to essential public goods and services”.
According to SERAP, the 2021 Audited Report by the Auditor-General of the Federation, published on November 13, 2024, revealed that 31 MDAs collectively paid over N167 billion for projects that were never carried out.
SERAP further reiterated that allowing companies and contractors to go away with public funds unpunished amounts to a grave violation of the Nigerian Constitution, anti-corruption laws, and international obligations under the United Nations Convention against Corruption.
“Holding these contractors accountable would help prevent waste, fraud, and abuse in public spending,” SERAP stated.