The court awarded N2 million in damages against the ministry for refusing to grant the lawyer's request in breach of the FOI Act.
The Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction to release the details of the beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer programme that ran from November 2024 to May 2025.
In her judgement, delivered on Monday, Judge Binta Nyako gave the ministry seven days to release the details to a lawyer, Myson Nejo.
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The court ruled that Mr Nejo, who is the 2024 governorship candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), was entitled to have the details he requested under the Freedom of Information (FOI) Act.
The court awarded N2 million in damages against the ministry for refusing to grant Mr Nejo's request in breach of the FOI Act.
Mr Nejo sued the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction for refusing to supply information on the "names of beneficiaries of the conditional cash transfer in the 18 local government areas of Ondo State and the amount disbursed to each local government for the programme."
The former Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Nentawe Yilwatda, reportedly claimed in May 2025 that the Conditional Cash Transfer programme had reached approximately 6 million Nigerians within the preceding six months.
This prompted Mr Nejo to write under the FOI Act to the ministry to request the details of the beneficiaries in Ondo State.
The office of the National Coordinator/Chief Executive of the National Social Investment Programme Agency (NSIPA) acknowledged Mr Nejo's letter and informed him It was going through its archives to provide the information, but it failed to follow through on its promise.
Mr Nejo then sued the ministry through his lawyer, Vincent Adodo.
At Monday's hearing, Mr Adodo asked the court to direct the ministry to hand over the information, but the Ministry's legal team, led by Ibrahim Moddibo, resisted through a counter-affidavit.
The ministry argued that it could not supply the information because doing so would violate the privacy of the beneficiaries.
However, Mr Adodo, insisting on transparency, noted that the public had the right to know how public funds were utilised. He emphasised that this public interest justifies the disclosure.
Following their submissions, the Judge gave on-the-spot judgement in favour of Mr Nejo.
This is not the first case where the court established that accountability overrode claims of inconvenience or privacy.
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In April, the Supreme Court ordered the Edo State Agency for the Control of AIDS (EDOSACA) to release the financial and operational records to a group of civil society organisations.
Similarly, the Court of Appeal in September upheld the ruling of the Federal High Court, Abuja, which directed the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to provide the requested details by the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) on subsidised exchange rates granted to pilgrims between 2016 and 2020.
