The judgement is based on suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1622/2020, which was filed after the CBN refused the HEDA Resource Centre's Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Central Bank of Nigeria to release its data on Forex subsidies and make it available to a civic group, the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource).
This was contained in a court ruling in a lawsuit between the Incorporated Trustees of Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) and the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
The judgement is based on suit number FHC/ABJ/CS/1622/2020, which was filed after the CBN refused the HEDA Resource Centre's Freedom of Information (FoI) request.
The HEDA request followed a Civic Media Lab's data investigations programme which found corruption vulnerability in CBN subsidies during an examination.
According to the CML Director, Seun Akinfolarin, the investigation began in 2019 following a newspaper report quoting then-NNPC downstream Chief Operating Officer Henry Ikem-Obih as saying that the Corporation, in collaboration with the CBN, had been giving out forex at concessionary rates lower than the parallel dollar rate to oil marketers.
This assertion had quickly been refuted by Adetunji Oyebanji, then-head of the Major Oil Marketers Association of Nigeria, who stated that he knew of no oil marketer who benefitted from the plan.
Furthermore, CML inquiry revealed that oil marketers were unable to obtain the CBN's concessionary prices.
Following the surprising finding of this gap, the lab requested access to the data from the CBN in 2020.
"CML had submitted its Freedom of Information (FOI) to HEDA for the list of all sectoral beneficiaries and businesses that were receiving forex on concessionary terms from the CBN.
"This was prior to the creation of the NAFEX/I&E window and several businesses were receiving forex at either the official rate of $1 to N305 or somewhere below the much higher parallel market rate of close to N400," Akinfolarin said.
CML contacted its public governance and accountability partner, HEDA resource, who issued another FOI request after receiving no answer from the bank.
The FOI request was likewise unanswered, and HEDA Resource filed a lawsuit against the CBN in November 2020 for failing to react after the seven-day and fourteen-day grace periods had expired.
During the court hearings, CBN denied having the data, a claim that HEDA countered with documents retrieved from the CBN website proving it had the data, prompting the court to compel the central bank to give the data.
The court emphasised the importance of public access to information and records in maintaining accountability, openness, citizen involvement, and good governance in a democracy in its decision.
The court decision is a critical milestone in the ongoing efforts to maintain accountability and openness in Nigerian public institutions, as well as an unparalleled triumph for the use of the Freedom of Information Act to promote anti-corruption and good governance.
Despite the court's decision, Akinfolarin remains sceptical that the CBN, which is notorious for failing to follow court orders, will comply with the request.
"If they do, it would allow economists and analysts to study what businesses have benefited unduly from a forex market that encouraged round-tripping and squeezed dollar supply to needy businesses that could have run more effectively if the market was unified and allowed to determine its value in the long run.
"While select businesses and pilgrimages benefited from the uneven market, the federal government transacted with businesses at rates that forced them to incur losses.
"Gas suppliers for example, who sell the raw material to the federal government at a capped price of $2.50 even when the market reads above that, were reportedly paid at N305, even though they sourced dollars from the parallel market for operations at a higher rate.
"More damaging is the fact that the skewed market allowed government-favoured businesses to gain an unfair advantage over less-favoured ones in sourcing imports for producing for sale in Nigeria.
"With cheaper access to forex, if government-favoured enterprises were not round-tripping, they were given an advantage to outprice competitors. Also the whole thing is subject to fraud since anybody with a good relationship with CBN can buy dollars at a lower rate. Government policies should not be aiding and abetting corruption," Akinfolarin said.