The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the 36 state governors and the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Nyesom Wike, to immediately account for and return local government funds collected over the years. This follows a Supreme Court ruling declaring the practice of withholding and utilizing funds intended for local governments unconstitutional.
SERAP applauds the Supreme Court’s decision, which ends the alleged misappropriation of trillions of FAAC allocations meant for local governments. The organization demands that governors and the FCT minister account for and return the funds within 7 days, failure which they will consider legal action.
According to SERAP, accounting for and returning the funds would build trust in democratic institutions, strengthen the rule of law, alleviate poverty, and enhance the ability of local governments to discharge their responsibilities effectively.
The 36 states and the FCT have reportedly collected over N40 trillion federal allocations meant for local governments since 1999. The Federation Account Allocation Committee disbursed N225.21 billion federal allocations meant for local governments in November 2023 and N258.81 billion in December 2023.
The Attorney General of the Federation filed a lawsuit seeking full autonomy and direct funding for all 774 local government councils, which the Supreme Court ruled in favor of on Thursday.