TRACKING___A Federal High Court sitting in Abuja, on Monday, adjourned till October 7, 2020, to hear the suit instituted by the Rivers State Government seeking to stop the deduction of funds from the Federation Account for the funding of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund scheme.
The adjournment followed the plea by the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice, the Accountant General of the Federation and Federal Ministry of Finance, the first, second and fourth respondents in the case, that they were in the process of settling the matter out of court.
The third respondent, the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission was not represented by any lawyer at the proceedings of yesterday.
The Solicitor General of the Federation, Dayo Akpata (SAN), who represented the AGF told the court that he had been in meetings with counsel to the plaintiff (Rivers State Government) with a possible settlement out of court.
According to Akpata, “the matter is predicated on the security of Nigeria as a corporate entity, and we consider it more profitable to sit down together for an amicable resolution to the matter.
“We have started the discussion and we want to appreciate counsel for the plaintiff for looking at a larger picture and agreeing to a roundtable discussion.
“We crave the indulgence of the court for an adjournment to see how we can meet to resolve the matter”, Akpata stated.
Counsel to the Accountant General, E. K. Idoko, and that of the Federal Ministry of Finance, Chinedu Amechie, agreed with the submission of the Akpata.
Plaintiff’s counsel, Ifedayo Adedipe (SAN), did not object to the plea of the respondents’ counsel.
“Yes, the respondents have approached us for settlement. We are not avarice to this,” he told the court.
The trial Judge, Justice Ahmed Mohammed, obliged and subsequently adjourned the matter to October 7.
The Rivers State Government, through its Attorney-General of the state, had on May 20, 2020, filed the suit marked, FHC/ABJ/CS/511/2020, to challenge the constitutionality and validity of section 4(1)(a) and Section 4(1)(b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act 2019, which permit the deduction of 0.5 per cent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account and be paid to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.
The Governor, Nyesom Wike-led Rivers State Government contended that it was not the responsibility of the state governments but that of the federal government to fund the police.
The state’s lawyers had argued that by virtue of Section 162 (3) of the Nigerian Constitution, funds standing to the credit of the Federation Account “can only be distributed among the Federal Government, state governments and local government councils in each state of Nigeria and not directly to any agency of the Federal Government including the Nigeria Police Force.”
It urged the court to among others, declare the section of the law “permitting the direct deduction of any sum or percentage of revenue accruing to the Federation Account or which ought to have been paid into the Federation Account for the purpose of providing funds for the Nigeria Police Trust Fund” as “unconstitutional, null and void.”
The state also urged the court to order a refund of the money deducted from the Federation Account and paid into the NPTF since when it was informed about it at the April 2020 Federation Account Allocation Committee meeting.
