The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has dragged the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) to court for allegedly refusing to reveal details of direct allocations made to the 774 local government councils across Nigeria.
Kolawole Oluwadare, Deputy Director of SERAP, announced the legal action in a statement released on Sunday, May 25.
According to the statement, the suit, filed last Friday at the Federal High Court in Lagos (suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025), seeks a court order compelling the CBN to disclose how much has been directly paid to each council since a Supreme Court judgment last July mandated such payments.
The Supreme Court had ruled that all allocations from the Federation Account must be transferred directly from the CBN to democratically elected local councils, barring state governors from withholding or tampering with those funds.
SERAP is also asking the court to force the CBN to confirm whether any direct payments have been made to local councils in Rivers State and to justify any such payments.
“The CBN should make it possible for citizens to have access to the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils to ensure transparency and accountability, and judge whether the CBN and other agencies are complying with the Supreme Court judgment,” the group said in the suit.
SERAP further argued that granting their request would uphold the democratic principles enshrined in the 1999 Constitution and promote accountability at the grassroots level.
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“State governors are starving local governments of funds and putting them in peril, despite the Supreme Court’s binding orders.
“State governors’ blatant disregard for the Supreme Court’s orders undermines the integrity of the court and poses a direct challenge to the rule of law,” the organisation added.
It called on the apex bank to act in the public interest by ensuring the full and direct disbursement of LG allocations in accordance with the court’s directive.
“The CBN also has the constitutional and statutory duty to ensure that no part of the Federation is governed contrary to the Nigerian Constitution or by anybody that is not constitutionally empowered to do so.”
“The CBN should be facilitating compliance with the Supreme Court’s orders. If state governors get away with ignoring the court, it will undermine the ability of the bank to credibly perform its statutory duties.”
SERAP warned that continued interference by states and the FCT endangers the autonomy and functionality of local governments as the constitutionally recognised third tier of government.
It insisted the CBN must uphold its duty to protect public funds and ensure that local councils receive their due share from the Federation Account without interference.