The Supreme Court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the 36 state governments and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) challenging the federal government’s handling of recovered looted funds.
In the lead judgment prepared by Chidiebere Uwa and read by Mohammed Idris, the seven-member panel of the apex court unanimously ruled that it lacked the jurisdiction to adjudicate the case.
The court determined that the dispute, designated SC/CV/395/2021, falls within the jurisdiction of the Federal High Court rather than the Supreme Court.
In the suit filed in 2021, the states alleged that between 2015 and 2021, the federal government recovered looted funds totalling N1,836,906,543,658.73, along with 167 properties, 450 vehicles, 300 trucks and cargo, 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 mandated by the constitution.
Instead, the plaintiffs asserted, the funds were redirected 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 revenues, including receipts from licenses, land revenue, administrative fees, sales and rental of government property, interest from federal investments, repayments from state governments, and personal income tax of armed forces members.
They contended that the federal government’s establishment of the Asset Recovery Account and Interim Forfeiture Recovery Account, into which proceeds from recovered assets were deposited, violated constitutional provisions.
The plaintiffs stated that “numerous recoveries of illegally acquired assets have been secured through anti-corruption and law enforcement agencies since 2015,” naming 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 responsible entities.
They relied on 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 qualify 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 to any other purpose,” the plaintiffs asserted.
The plaintiffs sought a court declaration that all proceeds from recovered assets, both cash and non-cash, must be deposited 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.
Additionally, they prayed for a directive for the federal government and relevant officials to provide a detailed account of all unrecovered or unremitted assets.
They sought an order requiring the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to devise modalities for distributing the recovered assets among the federal, state, and local governments.
However, the case was struck out by the court on Friday.
