Kanyi Okeke
Exactly how much did the Federal Ministry of Finance spend on last month’s
lavish funeral of Rev. Dr. Warigbo Esonu Iweala, the father-in-law of Dr. Ngozi
Okonjo-Iweala, Nigeria’s Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister for
Economy?
How many members of staff of the Ministry were sponsored by the Ministry to
attend the ceremony in Umuda Isingwu in Umuahia North, Abia State, including
detailed information on the purchase of air tickets for the entourage of the
Minister, other staff of the Ministry and its parastatals, as well as hotel
accommodation for staff of the Ministry who attended the burial?
How
much did the Ministry and its parastatals contribute to the preparation and the
actual burial of the father-in-law of Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala?
These are some of the Freedom of Information questions filed by Citizen Yinka
Odumakin under Section 1 (2) of the Freedom of Information Act of 2011that Mrs.
Okonjo-Iweala is facing tonight, and needs to answer in the next seven days.
The FOI Act is one of the proudest achievements of the Goodluck Jonathan
government.
Popularly known as NOI, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala faces the FOI dilemma for seven
days. If she fails to produces a properly-authenticated answer of the request,
she faces the option of legal action next week.
“Take Notice that you have within Seven days from the receipt of this
application to furnish me with this information and or record; failing which I
shall institute an action in the Federal High Court for a writ of Mandamus to
compel you to so do,” Mr. Odumakin’s application states.
Following on the footsteps of last week’s loss of the opportunity to become
the next President of the World Bank, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s government has
stepped into tumultuous times, ranging from:
• the publication of the devastating probe report of the government’s oil
subsidy regime by the House of Representatives;
• to emerging evidence that several key members of the government lied
about the oil subsidies;
• to internal and external turmoil in the People’s Democratic Party,
exemplified by attacks by Ibrahim Babangida on the inside and Muhammadu Buhari
on the outside;
• to yesterday’s arrest in Abuja of political activist Ayodeji Ajayeoba,
Convener of the United Action for Democracy (UAD) simply for saying the UAD will
organize protests of the government’s anti-poor policies and oil subsidy
manipulation;
• to the Jonathan government’s helplessness in the face of scam after
obvious scam;
• to last week’s embarrassing open begging of European governments by
President Jonathan to fight Boko Haram on his behalf weeks after he had
announced a July date by which he will vanquish the Islamic militants.
As pressure mounted at the weekend over the apparent complicity or
incompetence of government bodies in the oil subsidy mess, Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s
Ministry of Finance abruptly fired two auditing companies, Akintola Williams and
Co and Adekanola and Co., which were responsible for validating marketers’
claims.
“It is the most current version of bolting the barn doors after the horses
have escaped,” a political analyst told SaharaReporters.
Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala’s engagement with the much-celebrated Freedom of
Information Act will be the law’s most high-profile case yet
