SERAP SUES CBN OVER NON-DISCLOSURE OF DETAILS OF DIRECT PAYMENTS TO LGAs
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By: Sefiu Ajape
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has initiated legal action against the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) “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 suit follows a landmark Supreme Court ruling last July, which held that allocations from the Federation Account held by the CBN must be paid directly to democratically elected local government councils, and that no governor may “keep, control or use the money meant for the councils.”
In suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos, SERAP is requesting 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.”
Additionally, SERAP demands that the court “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 contends 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.”
The organisation further argues 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.”
Highlighting ongoing concerns, SERAP stated, “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.”
Represented by lawyers Kolawole Oluwadare and Oluwakemi Oni, SERAP’s filing reads 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.”
The suit underscores 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 as envisioned under the Nigerian Constitution.”
SERAP notes that 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.”
Recalling the July 2024 Supreme Court decision, SERAP observes that it 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 that ruling, the 774 local governments have reportedly “opened dedicated accounts with CBN for the direct disbursement of allocations to them from the Federation Account.”
SERAP also cited a December 2022 statement by former President Muhammadu Buhari: “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.”
Finally, the organisation pointed to reports that “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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