The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has called on the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) Governor, Mr. Olayemi Cardoso, to disclose whether the bank has started directly disbursing allocations to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria from the Federation Account.
According to Daily Trust, SERAP also requested CBN to “widely publish the amounts, if any, so far directly sent to each of the councils.”
SERAP further urged Mr Cardoso 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 had 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’s request, signed by Deputy Director Kolawole Oluwadare, emphasized that “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.”
