The Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, has stopped the Federal Government from further making deductions from the federation account to fund the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF) or other institutions not listed in the Nigerian constitution.
Delivering judgement, the Presiding Judge, Hon. Justice Ahmed Mohammed, declared as “illegal, unlawful and unconstitutional,” the direct allocations made so far by the Federal Government from the federation account to fund the NPTF.
According to him, the NPTF is not a creation of the Nigerian constitution, but that of the National Assembly through the enactment of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act which came into force in 2019.
The Court held that Section 161 and Section 162 of the 1999 Constitution were breached by the Federal Government in making direct allocations to the NPTF from the Federation Account.
Justice Ahmed also held that Section 162 of the 1999 is unambiguous to the effect that only the Federal, States and Local Governments shall be allocated fund directly from the Federation Account.
It was the view of the Court that section 4 of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Act 2019 relied upon by the Federal Government to justify the unlawful deductions from the Federation Account is inconsistent with section 162 of the 1999 Constitution which recognises only the Federal, States and Local Governments.
The Court declared as illegal, unlawfull and unconstitutional, the levies imposed on companies operating in Nigeria by the Federal Government to be paid directly into the NPTF instead of the Federation Account.
Rivers State had in suit, FHC/ABJ/CS/511/2020, filed on its behalf by Joseph Daudu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), challenged the decision of the Federal Government allocating funds directly from the Federation Account to fund some of its agencies, thereby depriving the State of substantial revenue from the Federation Account.
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