The Court of Appeal in Abuja has delivered another landmark ruling on the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act, dismissing the Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) appeal and compelling it to release details of subsidized foreign exchange allocations granted to pilgrims between 2016 and 2020.
In a unanimous judgment by Justices Usman Alhaji Musale, Boloukuromo M. Ugo, and Mohammed A. Danjuma, the appellate court affirmed an earlier decision of Justice Mobolaji O. Olajuwon of the Federal High Court, which had ordered the apex bank to disclose the information. The court further awarded N500,000 in costs against the CBN in favour of the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre).
HEDA initiated the suit in 2020 after the CBN failed to honour its FOI request seeking a full breakdown of forex subsidies disbursed, sector-by-sector allocations, and beneficiaries under the bank’s intervention schemes. The Federal High Court ruled in HEDA’s favour, but the CBN appealed, arguing that the case was statute-barred, that no records existed, and that the FOI Act had been wrongly applied.
The Court of Appeal rejected all the bank’s arguments, stressing that transparency and accountability in the use of public funds are matters of overriding national interest. It held that the FOI Act prevails over conflicting provisions of the Evidence Act and clarified that courts have the discretion to extend timelines for judicial review in FOI cases.
Reacting to the judgment, HEDA Chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, hailed the ruling as a major milestone in Nigeria’s fight for openness in governance.
“This judgment is not just for HEDA but for all Nigerians who believe in transparency. It sends a strong signal that secrecy has no place in a democracy and that public resources must be managed with accountability,” Suraju said.
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