36 governors lose bid to reclaim N1.8trn recovered funds as s’court declines jurisdiction

The supreme court has dismissed a suit filed by the 36 state governments and the Nigeria Governors’ Forum (NGF) challenging the federal government’s management 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 held that the court lacked jurisdiction to hear the case.

The court held that the dispute, marked SC/CV/395/2021, falls within the jurisdiction of the federal high court, not the supreme court.

BACKGROUND

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, as well as 167 properties, 450 cars, 300 trucks and cargoes, and 20 million barrels of crude oil valued at over N450 billion.

They claimed the federal government failed to remit these recoveries into the Federation Account as required by the constitution.

Instead, the plaintiffs said, 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 “meant 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 rent of government property, interest from federal investments, repayments from state governments, and personal income tax of members of the armed forces”.

They argued that the federal government’s creation of the asset recovery account and interim forfeiture recovery account, into which proceeds from recovered assets were paid, 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,” 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 responsible bodies.

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, 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 the said revenue to any other purpose,” the plaintiffs said.

The plaintiffs asked the court to declare that all proceeds from recovered assets cash and non-cash, must be paid into the federation account for the benefit of all tiers of government.

They also sought 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.

They prayed the court for a directive for the federal government and relevant officials to provide a detailed account of all unrecovered or unremitted assets.

They also sought an order requiring the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) to design modalities for distributing the recovered assets among the federal, state, and local governments.

However, the case was struck out by the court on Friday.