SERAP 7-Day Ultimatum: National Assembly Must Probe N6.3bn Constituency Fund Diversion or Face Court
A leading civil society organisation SERAP has issued a seven-day ultimatum to the leadership of Nigeria’s National Assembly, demanding that the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives initiate immediate investigations into the alleged diversion and non-accounting of more than N6.3 billion in constituency project funds — or face legal action in the courts.
The ultimatum, delivered in a formal letter dated June 27, 2026, is grounded in findings published by the Auditor-General of the Federation in a 2022 Annual Report that catalogues what the accountability group describes as systematic financial irregularities across multiple federal agencies that managed constituency project funds. SERAP’s letter warns that if no action is taken within seven days of receipt or publication, the organisation will take all appropriate legal steps to compel compliance.
The Ultimatum: Investigate, Prosecute, and Recover, or Face the Courts
SERAP The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project addressed its ultimatum directly and simultaneously to the Senate President and the Speaker of the House of Representatives — the two individuals who together constitute the formal leadership of Nigeria’s bicameral legislature. SERAP’s letter, signed by the organisation’s Deputy Director and made public on June 28, 2026, is specific in its demands.
SERAP calls on both presiding officers to immediately refer the allegations contained in the Auditor-General’s 2022 report to relevant anti-corruption agencies for investigation and, where sufficient evidence exists, prosecution. SERAP further demands that all misappropriated or unaccounted public funds be recovered and returned to the national treasury.
SERAP also called for public disclosure of the identities of all contractors and companies awarded constituency projects that were either abandoned before completion or never executed at all — including the names of their shareholders and beneficial owners. That demand cuts to the heart of one of Nigeria’s most enduring governance failures: the use of constituency projects as conduits for the transfer of public funds to politically connected contractors who deliver little or nothing in return.
“If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall take all appropriate legal actions to compel you and the National Assembly to comply with our request in the public interest.”
SERAP was unambiguous about its legal position: the National Assembly, as the institution constitutionally empowered to oversee public expenditure, bears direct responsibility for ensuring transparency and accountability in the management of constituency project funds.
If the allegations in the Auditor-General’s report are established, the organisation argued, they would constitute violations of the 1999 Constitution, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007, and the Public Procurement Act of 2007 — all of which impose obligations of prudent financial management, transparency, and accountability on those who handle public resources.
The Source Document: What the Auditor-General Found
The factual foundation of the ultimatum is the Auditor-General of the Federation’s 2022 Annual Report, a document published on September 9, 2025 — nearly three years after the financial year it covers. That lag between the period of expenditure and the publication of the audit findings is itself a governance concern, though it is not the subject of the current demand.
What the report documents, according to SERAP’s letter, is a pattern of financial misconduct that extends across at least five named federal agencies, involving payments into private accounts, procurement violations, inflated contracts, payments for work never done, and systematic failures to maintain the records that underpin any credible audit trail.
The total quantum of allegedly questionable or unaccounted constituency project funds across the agencies named in the Auditor-General’s report exceeds N6.3 billion — a figure that, while significant in absolute terms, is also likely to represent only a fraction of the total irregularities present across the full universe of federal agencies that handled constituency project funds in the 2022 period. Audit reports of this nature are typically limited by the scope of what auditors can access and verify, not by the outer boundaries of actual misconduct.
Agency by Agency: The Specific Allegations
The Environmental Health Registration Council of Nigeria is among the most prominently cited agencies in the Auditor-General’s findings. The council allegedly paid N22.94 million from its constituency projects account into private bank accounts belonging to staff members without any evidence of the purpose or utilisation of those funds.
Separately, the council awarded consultancy contracts worth more than N12 million for the design and supervision of modern abattoir projects in Kebbi and Jigawa States in 2021 — yet when auditors sought the project deliverables, including architectural and engineering designs, none could be located. The cumulative total of questionable constituency project transactions linked to the council exceeded N1.8 billion.
The Federal College of Animal Health and Production Technology in Vom, Plateau State, accounts for some of the largest individual irregularities documented. Over N279.7 million was reportedly paid to three contractors for youth and women empowerment programmes in Niger and Plateau States without any supporting documentation.
A further N279.7 million was allegedly released as mobilisation fees without proper records — meaning nearly N560 million was disbursed to contractors with no documentary basis for either the payment or the work it was supposed to fund. Additionally, more than N629.4 million was paid to contractors in circumstances where no evidence of competitive bidding, public advertisement of contracts, or verification of contractor qualifications could be found.
The Federal Polytechnic in Ukana, Akwa Ibom State, features a particularly dense concentration of irregularities. According to the Auditor-General’s findings, the institution made payments of over N407 million as mobilisation fees without supporting documents; more than N399 million was allegedly awarded to contractors who did not meet procurement requirements; contract inflation of over N192 million was identified; payments of over N279 million were made for projects that were only partially executed; N50 million was paid for a borehole project that was never constructed; and over N83 million was disbursed without the required approvals or documentation.
The concentration of infractions at a single institution — spanning procurement, documentation, execution, and approval failures — suggests a systemic breakdown of internal controls rather than isolated incidents of negligence.
“Corruption involving constituency projects deprives citizens, particularly poor and vulnerable Nigerians, of essential infrastructure and public services intended to improve their living conditions.”
The National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons was cited for irregularly awarding contracts worth over N21.8 million, spending more than N176.8 million on logistics and consultancy services without supporting records, and paying over N94 million for projects that were never executed. The National Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies — an institution whose very mandate includes the promotion of good governance — was cited for failing to submit audited financial statements covering the ten-year period from 2012 to 2022.
That omission effectively removes an entire decade of the institute’s financial operations from independent scrutiny. The institute was also cited for failing to remit over N15 million in stamp duties and for spending N1.6 million without the approval of the Office of the Accountant-General of the Federation.
The Constituency Project System: A History of Persistent Failure
Nigeria’s constituency project mechanism — through which federal legislators receive allocations to fund projects in their home constituencies — has been the subject of accountability concerns since its inception. The theoretical rationale for the system is defensible: it gives elected representatives a direct role in channelling development resources to the communities that sent them to the legislature. In practice, however, the system has been repeatedly characterised by the same pathologies documented in the Auditor-General’s 2022 report: projects awarded to politically connected contractors without competitive bidding, mobilisation fees released without documented deliverables, and projects recorded as completed that exist only on paper.
The scale of dysfunction documented in a single year’s audit report — more than N6.3 billion in questionable transactions across just five named agencies — raises legitimate questions about what a comprehensive audit of all constituency project spending would reveal. The Auditor-General’s office does not audit every federal agency every year. If the five agencies named in the 2022 report represent a sample rather than a universe, the total volume of constituency project funds that have been diverted, inflated, or simply not accounted for across the full system is likely to be a multiple of the N6.3 billion figure that has triggered the current demand.
The Legal Threat and What It Could Mean
SERAP’s warning that it will seek legal redress if the National Assembly does not act within seven days is not empty rhetoric. The organisation has a documented record of pursuing accountability through Nigeria’s courts, including through Freedom of Information Act applications, public interest litigation, and enforcement proceedings when public institutions fail to meet their legal obligations. A legal action against the National Assembly leadership, if filed, would likely seek orders compelling the referral of the Auditor-General’s findings to anti-corruption agencies — most plausibly the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission or the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission — and potentially orders requiring the disclosure of contractor identities and the recovery of documented losses.
The practical effect of such litigation, even if ultimately successful, is difficult to predict in a legal environment where enforcement of court orders against government institutions has historically been uneven. But the filing of such an action would itself generate public pressure and maintain scrutiny on a set of findings that — absent civil society intervention — might otherwise be absorbed into the long archive of Nigerian audit reports that are received, noted, and then quietly set aside.
The seven-day window given to the National Assembly leadership by SERAP closed on or around July 4, 2026. Whether the Senate President and the Speaker responded to the letter, acknowledged the Auditor-General’s findings, or initiated any referral to anti-corruption agencies within that period will determine whether the accountability organisation proceeds to court — and whether the N6.3 billion in allegedly missing constituency funds becomes the subject of a formal investigation or remains a line item in an audit report that few Nigerians will ever read.
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