The Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, as well as the 36 state governors of Nigeria, are the targets of a lawsuit brought by the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project for allegedly failing to account for N40 trillion in federal funds intended for local governments in the states and the FCT.
According to Nairametrics, in December 2022, former President Muhammadu Buhari made some revelations that led to the lawsuit. He said, “If the money from the Federation Account is about N100 million, N50 million will be sent to the chairman but the chairman will sign that he received N100 million.”
SERAP is asking the Federal High Court in Abuja to “direct and compel the governors to publish details of LGA allocations and actual disbursement of the allocations to local governments in their respective states from 1999 to date” in the suit with the number FHC/ABJ/CS/231/2024 that was filed last Friday.
SERAP’s attorneys, Kolawole Oluwadare, Andrew Nwankwo, and Kehinde Oyewumi, filed the lawsuit on the company’s behalf.
The lawsuit claimed that in several states, “many years of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of federal allocations meant for local governments have contributed to widespread poverty, underdevelopment, and lack of access to public goods and services.”
“It is the legal duty of the governors and Mr. Nyesom Wike to ensure that the federal funds intended for local government areas in the states and Federal Capital Territory are spent and disbursed transparently and responsibly, and to make sure that the funds are properly and completely distributed to the local governments.
“Our information indicates that over N40 trillion in federal allocations intended for the 774 local government areas in the country and Federal Capital Territory have been collected by the 36 states of Nigeria and Abuja.”
