SERAP Files Suit against CBN, Demands Disclosure on LG Allocations

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The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project has filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN.

SERAP’s action was necessitated by what it described as “over the failure to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council.”

This was contained in a statement released by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare on Sunday.

In the suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP is praying the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council since the Supreme Court judgment.

SERAP’s suit filed on its behalf by, Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Oluwakemi Oni, (SERAP’s lawyers) followed a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court last July, which held that allocations from the Federation Account with the CBN must be paid directly to democratically elected local government councils and that no governor has the power to keep, control or use the money meant for the councils.

The statement also noted that SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose whether any direct payment has been made from the Federation Account with the CBN to the local government councils in Rivers State and to explain the rationale for any such payment.”

SERAP argued that, “The CBN should make it possible for citizens to have access to the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils to ensure transparency and accountability, and judge whether the CBN and other agencies are complying with the Supreme Court judgment.”

SERAP also argued that “Granting the reliefs sought would go a long way in promoting the values and principles that underlie the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] and are inherent characteristics of an open democratic society.”

The statement pointed out that CBN could play an important role in revitalising the 774 councils in the country and improving opportunities for Nigerians who reside in those councils. The CBN should not allow states to act in breach of the Supreme Court judgment and do whatever they like with the public funds meant for local government councils.

“The CBN has a responsibility to comply with the Nigerian Constitution and the country’s international human rights and anticorruption obligations in the exercise of its statutory powers and functions.”

“Local government councils are entitled to a direct payment from the Federation Account of the amount standing to its credit in the said Federation Account. States should not be collecting, receiving, spending, or tampering with the local government council funds from the Federation Account meant for the benefit of the councils.

“The Supreme Court in a groundbreaking judgment declared that the Freedom of Information Act ‘is applicable and applies to the public records in the Federation’, including those kept by the CBN.

“By the combined reading of the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution, the Freedom of Information Act 2011 and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, applicable throughout Nigeria, there are transparency obligations imposed on the CBN to widely disclose the information sought by SERAP.”

According to SERAP, “State governors are starving local governments of funds and putting them in peril, despite the Supreme Court’s binding orders. State governors’ blatant disregard for the Supreme Court’s orders undermines the integrity of the court and poses a direct challenge to the rule of law.”

SERAP is also arguing that, “The CBN ought to act in the public interest to ensure that the 774 councils in the country directly get their own money from the Federation Account, as ordered by the Supreme Court.”

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