- Orders refund to Rivers Govt
A Federal High Court in Abuja yesterday declared the deductions of funds from the Federation Account for the funding of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Scheme as unconstitutional and unlawful.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed upheld the contention of the Rivers State Government challenging the deductions.
The Rivers State Government had, in 2020, filed the suit against the Attorney-General of Federation and Minister of Justice; the Accountant-General of the Federation; the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission and the Federal Ministry of Finance.
The state government had contended that the deductions violated the provision of Section 162 (3) of the Nigerian Constitution which states that funds standing to the credit of the Federation Account “federal, state, and local government councils in each state of Nigeria and not directly to any agency of the federal government, including the Nigeria Police Force.
The Rivers State Government had also challenged the constitutionality and validity of sections 4(1)(a) and 4(1)(b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act 2019, which permit the deduction of 0.5 percent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account and to be paid to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.
Justice Mohammed agreed that the distributions from the Federation Account were only for tiers of government, saying using same for the purpose of providing funds for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund is “unconstitutional, null and void.”
The court granted the state government’s request for refunds, but not to 35 other states of the federation that did not make the request.
“The court is not a Father Christmas that grants what was not sought for,” the judge said.
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