The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Federal Government before the United Nations. This was done due to the plans in motion to slash the education and health care budgetary allocations in the country.
In the petition, the group also urged the UN to prevail upon the Federal Government to drop the plan to spend N27bn on the renovation of the National Assembly complex as soon as possible.
The Deputy Director of SERAP, Kolawole Oludare, said that the petition was sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education, Koumbou Boly Barry; UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Dainius Puras; and the UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, Olivier De Schutter.
SERAP accused the Nigerian authorities of “putting politicians’ allowances and comfort before citizens’ human rights.” It said,
“The budget cuts show failure to address the growing economic and social inequality in the country and to genuinely address the consequences of COVID-19 on the poor and marginalised groups.
Nigeria’s budget deficits are caused by excessive expenditures on politicians’ allowances and mismanagement.
Nigerian authorities would only be able to commit to fiscal discipline if they prioritise cutting the allowances of lawmakers and the costs of governance in general, rather than cutting critical funding for healthcare and education.
We believe that alternative policies and measures, such as reducing the costs of governance, including the excessive allowances for high-ranking public officials and the lawmakers, would have been a more appropriate solution to addressing budget deficits, as this would increase the available resources for healthcare and education, which in turn would contribute to reducing socio-economic inequality.”
