Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mike Ozekhome and the Executive Director of Media Rights Agenda, Edetaen Ojo have declared that the request to NBC for N13 million loan made by the Minister of Information and Culture, Lai Mohammed is illegal and unconstitutional.

A memo containing the request which was leaked to an online news platform has received a barrage of criticism from the general public since its revelation.

The minister had in his defense said that nothing was unusual about asking for a refundable loan from the NBC but in a new twist, Ozekhome has refuted the claim of the minister.

Ozekhome and MRA noted that the Lai Mohammed’s request is a violation of the provisions of the law of budgetary appropriation and that of the Treasury Single Account (TSA) and further maintained that since the NBC is not a lending organisation, it ought not to have any money to honor loan requests.

“The other apparent fact is that no budgetary allocation has been made for the trip, either for the Ministry itself or the NBC,” Ojo said. “The expenditure, therefore, constitutes a violation of the Law as it is expenditure not budgeted for.”

Also, following reports that the Ministry of Information and Culture has initiated an investigation to determine who leaked the memo to the press, the group, MRA threatened to drag the minister before an international court if the whistle-blower is in any way reprimanded.

The group stated that the whistle-blower is protected under section 27 of the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, and therefore could not be punished for leaking information now or in the near future.

Adebayo Emuleomo