States want FCT out of Federation Account allocations
From John-Abba Ogbodo and Pascal Nwigwe, Abuja
STATES of the federation have begun concerted battle to stop the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja and its six area councils from benefiting from the Federation Account.
Their position was canvassed yesterday at the public hearing on the new revenue formula for local councils organised by the House Committees on Justice, Judiciary and States and Local Governments.
The Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) also backed the states, saying the bill is not necessary since the comprehensive revenue formula being worked is unconstitutional because it includes the FCT and the area councils as beneficiaries contrary to the provision of section 162(3) of the 1999 Constitution.
Sir Udechukwu Nnoruka (SAN), the Attorney-General of Abia State, had got a ruling at the Supreme Court in the case of the Attorney-General of the Federation v Abia State Attorney-General and 35 others in 2002 that: "The FCT is not a state nor a local government in a state. It, therefore, cannot qualify for distribution of the Federation Account. Nor are the area councils in the FCT as they are not local governments in a state as provided in sub-section 3 of Section 162 of the Constitution.�
Nnoruka yesterday further averred that the unconstitutionality of section 1 of the bill is borne out by the proposed creation of a Federal Capital Territory Joint Area Council Account, stressing that the body is unknown to the constitution and certainly not envisage in Section 162(6) of the Constitution.
He submitted that the section be deleted from the bill.
Also in its submission to the committee, Lagos State government, represented by the legal adviser to the Governor, Ade Ipaye, said FCT is not a state which explains why it does not have an elected governor but a minister who is an appointee of the Federal Government.
He added that instead of benefiting from the Federation Account, which is unconstitutional, FCT should derive its allocation from the share of the Federal Government�s allocation the way other ministers do.
He said the argument that it was only a ruling of the Supreme Court does not hold because all over the world, constitutions are strengthened with court rulings, especially those by the apex court.
Ipaye faulted Section 3 of the bill, which provides for withholding of allocations to any local government that defaults in rendering account of previous allocation, saying it is in conflict with the Constitution.
Similarly, he said section 5 which prescribes punishment for governors and any other persons or bodies found to have run foul of the bill duplicates other laws, including the Constitution that make adequate provision for criminal offences.
But the Minister of Justice and Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Chief Akinlolu Olujinmi (SAN), faulted their positions on FCT, pointing out that the Supreme Court did not take into cognisance Section 299 and 318 of the Constitution, which accords FCT Abuja the status of a state.
He defended the bill arguing that it is aimed at encouraging transparency and accountability in the management of local council funds.
"To deny FCT allocation is unfair and unconstitutional," he said.
Olujinmi said there was no need for anybody to oppose the bill since its intention is to address complaints of poor performance of local councils nationwide.
"The kind of bill is a bill that everybody ought to support having regard to the fact that it seeks to promote fiscal responsibility. If you are given money to run your local governments and this money is spent for that purpose, I do not see anybody arguing against a call to render accounts.
�But when you have not utilised that money for that purpose, that may be why you want to say �no,�� he stated.
The minister said any governor found to have committed any criminal offence would be tried as soon as his tenure ended, adding: "No governor is above the law."
Citing instances of financial recklessness at the state level, Olujinmi disclosed that before he became minister, he had, in the course of his legal practice stumbled on a situation where a council made provisions for a governor's birthday in its allocation.
RMAFC, led by Commissioners Abu Gidado and Emeka Nwogwu said the commission did not see the bill as a necessity since it was working on a comprehensive revenue formula that would address most of the problems.
Earlier, the Speaker of the House of Representatives in his opening remarks lamented that despite the huge sums of money injected into councils nationwide, there was no commensurate development. He urged the committee to shun sentiments and come up with solutions to the problem.
