January 26, (THEWILL) – The Federal High Court in Abuja has barred the Federal Government from deducting funds directly from the Federation Account to fund the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in line with Section 4(1)(a) & (b) of the Police Trust Fund (PTF) Act 2019.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed, in a judgement on Wednesday, held that the provisions of Section 4(1)(a) & (b) of the PTF Act 2019, requiring the deduction 0.05 percent of any funds in the Federation Account and 0.005 percent of the net profit of companies operating in Nigeria to fund the police are unconstitutional.
The judge held that the NPF is an agency of the Federal Government, whose sole responsibility is to fund the police.
The ruling followed a suit filed by the Rivers State Government against the Attorney General of Federation and Minister of Justice; the Accountant General of the Federation; the Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission, and Federal Ministry of Finance.
The Rivers State Government through its Attorney General had approached the court wherein it sought an order stopping the deduction of funds from the Federation Account for the funding of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund scheme.
The Rivers State Government had challenged 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 percent of the total revenue accruing to the Federation Account and be paid to the Nigeria Police Trust Fund.
The State Government had contended that it was not the responsibility of the State governments but that of the Federal Government to fund the Police.
Delivering judgement, Justice Mohammed agreed with the Rivers State Government 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.
Consequently, the court declared 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.”
Justice Mohammed said the provisions are contrary to the provisions of Section 162(1) & (3) of the Constitution, requiring 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 ordered the Federal Government to refund to the Rivers State Government its share of the funds from the Federation Account that have been wrongly deducted since it commenced the deduction of funds in accordance with the provisions of the PTF Act.
