By Hadiza Suleman
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), Thursday, told the thirty-six state governors and the minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to account for local government allocations they had been taking custody of or face legal action.
This followed the Supreme Court verdict that it is unconstitutional for states and the FCT to hold allocations meant for LGAs. The judgement followed a suit filed by the federal government aiming to make the 774 LGAs in Nigeria autonomous.
SERAP said the apex court’s decision would end the persistent misappropriation of FAAC allocations and public funds meant for local governments.
SERAP, in a statement by its deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, said with the Supreme Court judgment, there was now a clear legal precedent to hold governors and FCT minister to account for how they have spent the local government funds collected by them.
The rights group said, “Implicit in the Supreme Court judgment is the requirement for the governors and FCT minister to immediately account for and return the funds meant for local governments but retained and used or allegedly misused by them.
“Accounting for and returning the LGA funds collected would build trust in democratic institutions and strengthen the rule of law. The National Assembly must urgently amend the provisions of Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] to ensure that local government allocations from the Federation Account are directly paid to local government areas and not collected by governors and FCT.
“If governors and FCT minister fail to account for and return the funds meant for local governments in their states and FCT within seven days, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel the governors and FCT minister to comply with our requests in the public interest.
“It is in the public interest for the governors and FCT minister to immediately account for and return the funds meant for local governments in their states and the FCT since 1999.
“Accounting for and returning the local government funds collected would alleviate poverty, improve access of Nigerians to basic public goods, and enhance the ability of the local governments to effectively and efficiently discharge their constitutional and statutory responsibilities.”
The group recalled that former president Muhammadu Buhari had in December 2022 stated that, “If the money from the Federation Account to the state is about N100m, N50m will be sent to the chairman but he will sign that he received N100 million. The chairman will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to share it with’.
“The 36 states in Nigeria and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have reportedly collected over N40 trillion federal allocations meant for the 774 local governments areas in the country and FCT.
“The Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) disbursed to states N225.21 billion federal allocations meant for local governments in November 2023 alone. States also collected N258,810,449,711.47 federal allocations meant for local government areas in December 2023.”
