The Socio-Economic Rights And Accountability Project (SERAP), has called on Governors of the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Minister, Nyesom Wike to return the Local Government Council funds they have collected, or face legal action.
This is coming hours after the Supreme Court declared as unlawful, the use of the funds meant for the 774 Local Government Areas (LGAs) by the state governors.
New Telegraph had earlier reported that the Supreme Court barred the 36 governors from further retaining or utilizing funds that are meant for the 774 Local Government Areas in the country.
Speaking on the development in a statement issued by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, SERAP applauded the Supreme Court for the decision which it said would end the persistent misappropriation of several trillions of FAAC allocations meant for local governments.
According to SERAP, following the Supreme Court judgment, there is now a clear legal precedent to hold governors and the FCT minister to account for how they have spent the local government funds collected by them.
“Implicit in the Supreme Court judgment is the requirement for the governors and FCT minister to immediately account for and return the funds meant for local governments but retained and used or allegedly misused by them.
“Accounting for and returning the LGA funds collected would build trust in democratic institutions and strengthen the rule of law.
“The National Assembly must urgently amend the provisions Section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution 1999 [as amended] to ensure that local government allocations from the Federation Account are directly paid to local government areas and not collected by governors and FCT,” SERAP said.