The Federal High Court (FHC or “the Court”) Abuja Division, recently delivered judgement in the case between the Attorney General for Rivers State (AGRS or “the Plaintiff”) and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF or “1st Defendant”), Accountant General of the Federation (“2nd Defendant”), Revenue Mobilization Allocation and Fiscal Commission (“3rd Defendant”), and the Honourable Minister of Finance for the Federal Republic of Nigeria (4th Defendant) (collectively referred herein as the Defendants), stating that Section 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act, 2019 (NPTF Act) is inconsistent with the provisions of the Constitution of the Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended (“the 1999 Constitution”) and, therefore, null, void and of no effect whatsoever.
Further, the Court granted the relief sought by the Rivers State Government (RSG) for refund of its share of all sums already deducted from the Federation Account in line with Section 4(1)(a) and (b) of the NPTF Act for the funding of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (NPTF or “the Fund”).
Submissions of the parties
Below is a summary of the arguments of the parties to the case:
AGRS’ position
The Plaintiff argued that Section 4(1)(a) and (b) of the NPTF Act, which provides for payments to the Fund of 0.5% of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account and 0.005% of the net profit of companies operating in Nigeria, directly contradicts the provisions of Section 162 (1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution.
Section 162(1) of the 1999 Constitution provides that all revenues collected by the Federation of Nigeria (except personal income tax of personnel of the Armed Forces of the Federation, the Nigeria Police Force, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and residents of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja) shall be paid into the Federation Account. Continue reading here...
