Anthony Sani, the former secretary general of the Arewa Consultative Forum, has denounced the House of Representatives decision to withdraw a resolution last week to ask the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee to look into the N15 trillion in unexplained money.
Mansur Soro, a member of the Darazo/Ganjuwa Federal Constituency in Bauchi State, sponsored the resolution that the Green Chamber stepped down last week.
Soro had criticised the state and local government councils for not adhering to the constitutional restrictions in the distribution of the money that had accrued to FAAC.
Citing Section 162 (3) of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), Soro stated, “Any amount standing to the credit of the Federation Account shall be distributed among the Federal and State Governments and the Local Government Councils in each State on such terms as may be prescribed by the National Assembly.”
Rather than comply with the law, the Bauchi lawmaker said FAAC introduced a revenue savings policy in managing revenues collected in the distributable policy account.
He said, “The Federation Account Allocation Committee has hinged its decision on the need to minimise the impact of increased revenues on the money supply and inflation caused by the unification of exchange rates and fuel subsidy removal.”
He added that FAAC had saved N15tn from the distributable pool account over the last 20 months in statutory revenues due to the federal, state, and local government areas with no clear guidelines and updates on the amounts standing in credit to the federal government, the 36 states, and the 774 local government councils.
“The introduction of the new savings policy is not backed by any legal framework on how the saved funds, accruing interest, and investment will be managed or distributed to the three tiers of government, ” he added.
Rather than act on the motion, Soro was prevailed upon to step it down till further notice.
Reacting to the development, Sani wondered why FAAC is keeping such a huge amount at a time when the three tiers of government are balling harsh economic realities.
He said, “Given the need for money by the three tiers of government for socio-economic development amid untold hardship, one would be surprised to hear that as much as N15 tn is being held by FAAC. What is it being held for?
“The economic implication is more hardship and restlessness on the part of the citizens-which is also not good for the government.”
Also speaking, rights lawyer Abdul Mahmud described the action of the House as unfortunate.
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“The decision of the House of Representatives to step down the motion seeking to investigate the unaccounted N15tn held by the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee raises serious concerns about transparency and fiscal accountability in Nigeria’s public finance management.
“FAAC, being the statutory body responsible for revenue allocation among the federal, state, and local governments, lacks the legal authority to withhold funds without a clear framework. This situation undermines the principles of revenue sharing as enshrined in the Constitution and deprives subnational governments of much-needed resources for development, salaries, and infrastructure projects.
“The failure to account for such a significant sum erodes public trust in governance and creates room for financial mismanagement and corruption. In addition, the withholding of N15tn could have far-reaching economic and legal consequences.
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“States and local governments, which rely heavily on FAAC allocations for their budgets, may struggle to meet their financial obligations while leading to salary delays, stalling projects, and increasing borrowing, ” he said.
On her part, good governance advocate and founder of Women Arise, Joe Key-Odumakin, said, “N15tn is a staggering amount that was same as the national annual budget over a decade ago, stressing that “There is need for a strong opposition at the National Assembly as they cannot hold the executive accountable and curtail them on some of these excesses.”
Soro said in an interview that statutory allotments intended for the three levels of government “are being withheld without adherence to the constitution, principle of transparency, and laid-down financial rules.”
“In the interest of transparency and principle of Justice, the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Finance and FAAC ought to have fully distributed all revenues accruing to the distributable pool account of the federation before saving a portion of it in the designated savings accounts of benefitting states and Local government councils in the varying amounts been saved with the Central Bank of Nigeria.”
According to him, “The N15tn estimate is a conservative figure. The savings policy was introduced in June 2024 about 20 months ago with initial savings of N790bn. So the amount may be more than N20tn.
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