Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has given the government of President Muhammadu Buhari and leadership of the National Assembly 14 days to reverse the proposed illegal cut of N26.51 billion in basic healthcare budget and to cut the National Assembly and Presidency budgets instead, or face legal action.
In the letters dated 18 April, 2020 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organization expressed concern about the scale of the cuts in basic healthcare and education budgets and their disproportionate impact on the poorest.
According to SERAP, the cuts would leave the poorest and most vulnerable people without access to essential public goods and services and would put both the government and the National Assembly in breach of their constitutional human rights and anti-corruption obligations.
The letters addressed to President Buhari, Ahmad Lawan and Speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, maintained that the continued neglect of basic public goods and services in order to sustain the apparently lavish lifestyles of members of the National Assembly and other powerful politicians would exacerbate poverty, inequality, marginalization and impunity in the country.