- Law Library Home
- About the Law Library
- Find Legal Resources
- Research Help
- Research & Educational Opportunities
- News & Events
- Visiting the Law Library
- Contact Us
Related Resources at the Library
The Global Legal Monitor is an online publication from the Law Library of Congress covering legal news and developments worldwide. It is updated frequently and draws on information from the Global Legal Information Network, official national legal publications, and reliable press sources. You can search previous news by searching the archive.
Nigeria: Constitutional Law - State Governments Take Federal Government to Court
To link to this article, copy this persistent link:
http://www.loc.gov/lawweb/servlet/lloc_news?disp3_553_text
(Jun. 02, 2008) It has been reported that seven state governments, of Abia, Bauchi, Benue, Niger, Ogun, Oyo, and Osun States, recently filed a suit against the Federal government before the Nigerian Supreme Court for violation of section 163 of the Nigerian Constitution, by failure to pay "Federal Account entitlements" between 2004 and 2007. The states are seeking N546 billion (about US$4.7 billion) in refunds from revenues generated from "Excess Crude Proceeds, Signature Bonus, Sales of Government Properties, Cost of Collection from Revenue Agencies, waivers and concessions, Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Dividends, Privatization Proceeds, Education Tax Proceeds and other Dividends and IGR." The states allege that these funds should have been credited to "the Federation Account" and distributed to the states as mandated by the Constitution. (Governors Seek Refund of "Illegal Deductions" from Federation Account, THE GUARDIAN (Lagos), May 19, 2008, Open Source Center No. AFP20080519559010.)
According to section 162 of the Nigerian Constitution, "the federation shall maintain a special account to be called the 'Federation Account,' in to which shall be paid all revenues collected by the government of the federation…..any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account must be distributed among the federal, the state governments and the local government councils on such term and manner prescribed by the National Assembly" (Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, sec. 162, http://www.nigeria-law.org/ConstitutionOfTheFederalRepublicOfNigeria.htm (official source, last visited June 11, 2008).
- Author: Hanibal Goitom
- Topic: Constitutional Law More on this topic
- Jurisdiction: Nigeria More about this jurisdiction
Search Legal News Archives |
RSS |
Last updated: 06/02/2008