The Supreme Court has rejected a lawsuit brought by the 36 state governments and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) concerning the federal government’s management of recovered looted funds.
In the lead judgment prepared by Chidiebere Uwa and delivered by Mohammed Idris, the seven-member panel unanimously concluded that the court did not have the jurisdiction to hear the case.
The court held that the matter, cited as SC/CV/395/2021, falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court, not the Supreme Court.
In the suit filed in 2021, the states alleged that between 2015 and 2021, the federal government recovered looted funds amounting to N1,836,906,543,658.73, in addition to 167 properties, 450 vehicles, 300 trucks and cargoes, and 20 million barrels of crude oil valued at over N450 billion.
They claimed that the federal government failed to deposit these recoveries into the Federation Account as required by the Constitution.
Instead, the plaintiffs argued, the funds were diverted to the Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) and other accounts not recognised by the Constitution.
According to the states, the CRF is intended for the federal government’s share of the Federation Account and other federal earnings, including receipts from licenses and land revenue, administrative fees, sales and rental of government property, interest from federal investments, repayments from state governments, and personal income tax from members of the armed forces.
They contended that the federal government’s creation of the Asset Recovery Account and Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account, into which proceeds from recovered assets were deposited, breached constitutional provisions.
The plaintiffs noted that “numerous recoveries of illegally acquired assets have been secured through anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies since 2015,” listing the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Nigerian Police Force, and the Office of the Attorney-General of the Federation among the entities involved.
They cited sections 162(1), 162(10), and 80 of the Constitution, as well as section 2 of the Finance (Control and Management) Act of 1958, to argue that all recovered funds should be classified as revenue payable into the Federation Account.
“It is unconstitutional to remit or divert revenue payable into the Federation Account to the Consolidated Revenue Account of the Federal Government or any other account whatsoever, or to apply said revenue for any other purpose,” the plaintiffs proclaimed.
The plaintiffs sought a declaration from the court that all proceeds from recovered assets, both cash and non-cash, must be paid into the Federation Account for the benefit of all tiers of government.
They also requested an order compelling the federal government to remit N1.8 trillion (cash) and N450 billion (non-cash assets) recovered since 2015 into the Federation Account.
Moreover, they sought a directive for the federal government and relevant officials to provide a comprehensive account of all unrecovered or unremitted assets.
They requested an order requiring the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to establish modalities for distributing the recovered assets among federal, state, and local governments.
However, the court struck out the case on Friday.
