A civil rights advocacy group, Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA), on Thursday said last-minute approval of huge amounts of money by the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari was fishy and a clear clandestine plot for “loot-sharing” amongst outgoing ministers, government officials and contractors.

HURIWA, in a statement by its National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko, said the Buhari administration which ends on May 29 should be winding down and not approving last-minute but suspicious loans and monies.

Recall that the Federal Executive Council, on Wednesday, approved N1.535 trillion for the construction and rehabilitation of 11 roads across the country, under the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) Tax Credit Scheme.

The Federal Government also approved the sum of N3.4 billion for the procurement of a surveillance aircraft for the use of the nation’s Customs Service. This is despite the fact that Nigeria has failed to service its debt to China which has accumulated to N110.31 billion in the last two years, according to the Debt Management Office (DMO).

In the same breadth, the Attorney-General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami; Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele; Minister of Finance, Zainab Ahmed and other government officials failed to appear before the House of Representatives on Wednesday to explain alleged payment of $200 million to two private firms as consultancy services fees on whistleblowers recoveries. There is also the reported borrowing of over 800 million USD purportedly meant for palliatives to cushion effects of petrol subsidy withdrawal.

“HURIWA believes this was suspicious and must be rejected by all and sundry, including the Nigerian Labour Congress that is about to be bribed with a phantom salary upgrade for few workers in the public service.

The Government lacks credibility and is not a respecter of transparency and accountability and therefore will loot the multimillion loans it got from the multilateral funding agency for palliatives for petrol subsidy withdrawal," the statement read in part.

The group further said: “Without a doubt, the outgoing Federal Government officials are trying to fleece Nigeria of humongous amounts before leaving office on May 29, 2023. At the end of the day, this act sinks Nigeria deeper into debt overhang and comes with just four weeks to the disengagement of the Muhammadu Buhari administration. This shows that it is a calculated plan by this government that lacks transparency and accountability to hijack the resources for themselves and their families.

“We demand that by now, the government should be winding down by stopping approval and releases of public funds to outgoing officials to steal. It is another brazen attempt to loot public funds.

“We reject subsidy removal and ask for a forensic investigation of the administration of subsidy payments by the government in eight years so the officials who diverted public funds are arrested, prosecuted, published and the stolen funds retrieved and paid back to the public coffers.”