Justice Ahmed Mohammed of the Federal High Court sitting in Abuja has ruled that direct deduction from the Federation Account to fund the police negates Section 4(1)(a) & (b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act 2019.
The Judge insisted that Section 4(1)(a) & (b) of the NPTF Act 2019, requiring the deduction of 0.05 per cent of any funds in the Federation Account and 0.005 per cent of the net profit of companies operating in Nigeria to fund the police are unconstitutional.
He further ordered the Federal Government to refund to Rivers State its share of the funds deducted from the Federation Account since deductions began by provisions of the NPTF Act.
He gave the judgment in a suit filed by Rivers State government against the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF), Accountant-General of the Federation (AG-F), Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Minister of Finance.
Justice Mohammed said the provisions were inconsistent with Section 162(1) & (3) of the Constitution.
The section requires the payment of total revenue collected by the government of the federation, including levies and taxes, into the Federation Account for sharing among the three tiers of government.
The judge agreed with Rivers State that, by Section 162 (3) of the Nigerian Constitution, funds standing to the credit of the Federation Account “can only be distributed among the federal, state and local governments in each state of Nigeria and not directly to any agency of the federal government, including the NPF.”
He added that no other entity, by the provision of Section 162(3) of the Constitution, outside the three tiers of government is entitled to partake in the sharing of funds standing to the credit of the Federation Account.
