SERAP Urges Cardoso to Disclose Allocations to 774 Local Councils

He was also asked to “immediately 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.”

The Supreme Court last July in a landmark judgment held that no governor or other agencies have the power to keep, control, or disburse in any manner the allocations from the Federation Account meant for local government councils, and that any such allocations must be paid directly to democratically elected councils.

SERAP said it was concerned that 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.

In the Freedom of Information request dated May 10, 2025 and signed by SERAP deputy director, Mr Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said: “The CBN ought to act in the public interest to ensure that the 774 councils in the country directly get their own allocations from the Federation Account, as ordered by the Supreme Court.”

SERAP said, “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 CBN also has the constitutional and statutory duty to ensure that no part of the Federation is governed contrary to the Nigerian Constitution or by anybody that is not constitutionally empowered to do so.”

“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 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 constitutional and statutory duties.

“Ensuring that all restrictions against direct disbursement of allocations from the Federation Account to the 774 councils will comply with the orders by the Supreme Court and stop states and the Federal Capital Territory from tampering with the allocations ahead of the 2027 general elections.

“The disbursement of the allocations meant for the 774 councils to states would be at the expense of poor Nigerians and continue to undermine the rights and well-being of those at the bottom of the economy and exacerbate the growing poverty in the country,” SERAP noted.