Joint Account: FG asks court to dismiss Nigerian governors’ suit

The federal government asked the Federal High Court in Abuja on Wednesday to dismiss a suit seeking a “declaration that the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) does not have the statutory powers by its establishment Act to make guidelines for the regulation, monitoring, and operation of the State Joint Local Government Accounts or any other account into which funds from the Joint Account are paid into,” according to the government.

The Attorney General of the Federation made the plea in a case involving the Attorneys General of 36 states, the Incorporated Trustees of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum and the AGF, NFIU, and Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (1st to 3rd Defendants), which was argued before Justice Inyang Ekwo on Wednesday.

Beginning June 1, 2019, the NFIU issued guidelines on May 6, 2019 to encourage the reduction of crime vulnerabilities created by cash withdrawals from local government funds across the country.

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According to the agency, the guidelines include full enforcement of corresponding sanctions in the event of violations.

The guidelines set a daily limit of N500, 000 on the total amount that could be withdrawn from a local government account.

Any other transactions, it said, must be done with valid checks or electronic funds transfers, among other things.

Cash withdrawals and transactions from State Joint Local Government Accounts (SJLGA) “posed the most significant corruption, money laundering, and security threats at the grassroots, as well as to the entire financial system and the country,” according to the report.

State governments, on the other hand, had brought the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), the Nigeria Federation of Industrial Unions (NFIU), and the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) to court as the first, second, and third defendants, respectively.

The plaintiffs (state governments) argued that the directive violated the Nigerian constitution’s guarantee of financial autonomy.

The Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) had approached the FHC, which was presided over by Justice John Tsoho, in 2019 to stop the NFIU’s guidelines from being implemented, but the court declined.

Tijjani Gazali, SAN, counsel for the AGF, said the NFIU had not infringed on the powers of the states or local governments during the resumed hearing.

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In his own submission, NFIU counsel Arthur Okafor, SAN, stated that the agency acted within its statutory powers to prevent abuse of office and other types of financial crimes from occurring at the institution.

the level of local government

Justice Ekwo has scheduled a hearing on the case for May 23.