Thirteen Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) have urged the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu to provide Nigerians with detailed information on how it disbursed more than N570 billion to the 36 states to expand livelihood support to their citizens.
The group is urging the President to explain to Nigerians what the money disbursed was meant for and how much each state received from the total sum claimed to have been sent to states. 
“What were the monies released to states for specifically? In which ministry is it domiciled? How much did each state get?” they queried.
The CSOs making this call include: Yiaga Africa, BudgIT Foundation, Accountability Lab Nigeria, Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), Enough is Enough (EiE) Nigeria, #FixPolitics and Global Rights.
Others are Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA), Media Rights Agenda (MRA), Public and Private Development Centre (PPDC), Sesor Empowerment Foundation, TechHer and Women Advocate Research and Documentation Centre (WARDC).
Noting that in the 38-paragraph speech, the president highlighted some of the government’s policies to course-correct the economy largely in the medium to long term, they regretted that he did not address the core demands of Nigerians across the country who are calling for good governance and immediate change from the downward trend in accountability and social development.
They stated that the President also failed to acknowledge that the security force’s response to protesters had resulted in the extrajudicial killing of several protesters and missed the opportunity to assure the nation that their perpetrators will be held accountable.
“The Nigerian government must not forget that ‘Sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria, from whom government, through this Constitution, derives all its powers and authority,’ Section 14(2)(a) of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), thus it is imperative to engage citizens from the perspective of their needs within their stated demands.
“Over the last few weeks, Nigerians have planned, mobilised, curated different demands, and given the government adequate notice.
“We recognise that citizens have taken ownership of the demand to #EndBadGovernance and have contributed to the list of demands in circulation from their pain points.
“As civil society groups and stakeholders in the polity, we have streamlined the demands based on consultations to midwife a peaceful and holistic engagement of issues by the government.
“Except for increased investment in agriculture and student loan disbursements, the demands that require process were ignored completely – (1) Protect farms & farmers; (2) Human capital development; (3) Electoral reform; (4) Establish a living wage; and (5) Constitutional & judicial reforms.
“The President has expressed the government’s openness to dialogue with protesters on these demands.
“It is therefore our candid advice that this is pursued by officials and representatives of both sides with sincerity of purpose.
“This should begin with an immediate release of all arrested peaceful protesters and sanctions against security agents who attacked unarmed peaceful protesters.
“We remind the government that should security forces continue to aggravate protesters, it may become difficult to broker dialogue.
“It is our recommendation that representatives of the National Peace Committee and reputable civil society groups serve as facilitators and observers of this dialogue process and its outcomes.
“The protesters have said they will continue their peaceful demands on the streets until Saturday, August 10.
“We urge the federal government to concede the low-hanging requests as a reassurance of its commitment to citizen-centred governance and leadership.”
