The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria “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.”
SERAP’s suit 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.
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday.
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In the suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP is asking 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.
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.”
In the suit, SERAP argues 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 argues, “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.”
It said, “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.”
The suit, filed on behalf of SERAP by its lawyers, Kolawole Oluwadare and Ms Oluwakemi Oni, read in part: “The CBN should be facilitating compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders. If state governors get away with ignoring the court, it will undermine the ability of the bank to credibly perform its statutory duties.
“States and the FCT have continued to undermine and endanger the existence of local governments and their ability to effectively function as the third tier of government as envisioned under the Nigerian Constitution.
“The CBN has a constitutional and statutory duty to protect the allocations in the Federation Account and the public funds disbursed from that Account directly to each of the constitutionally recognized three tiers of government.”
The organisation highlighted that, in a landmark ruling in July 2024, Nigeria’s Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional and unlawful for the 36 state governors and the FCT minister to retain and utilise allocations from the Federation Account that were intended for the country’s 774 local governments.
“Following the judgment, the 774 local governments have reportedly opened dedicated accounts with CBN for the direct disbursement of allocations to them from the Federation Account,” it said.
“Former president Muhammadu Buhari had in December 2022 stated that, ‘If the money from the Federation Account to the State is about N100m, N50m will be sent to the chairman but he will sign that he received N100m. The chairman will pocket the balance and share it with whoever he wants to share it with.’”
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It said, “According to reports, the Federation Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) shared a total of N1.578 trillion among the three tiers of government as revenue generated in March 2025.”
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