Senate on Tuesday urged the federal government to ensure that one representative of local government per state and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT Area Councils are included to represent their interest in the Federation Account Allocations Committee, FAAC.
The Red Chamber, which also resolved to communicate the resolution to the Minister of Finance and Coordinating Minister of the Economy as the chairman of FAAC for his urgent information and necessary action, sought the concurrence of the House of Representatives.
These followed a motion on the “Urgent need to alter the composition of Federation Account Allocations Committee, FAAC by including representatives of local governments and Area Councils”, sponsored by the Deputy President of the Senate, Senator Jibrin Barau (APC Kano North) during plenary.
Presenting the motion, Senator Barau said that the representatives of the states had always represented local government councils at the FAAC, but declared that in light of the current position of the constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court, it has become imperative that representatives of local government councils per state and Area Councils be nominated to represent their interest in FAAC.
The Deputy Senate President, who spoke through Senator Jibrin Isah (APC Kogi East), noted that the local government councils, established by Section 7(1) of the 1999 constitution, as a third tier of the Federation, are entitled as such and by Section 162(3), to share directly in the Federation Account Allocations as benefitting entities.
He added that “the Supreme Court has further recognized that the approach of a direct payment to the local government councils will achieve the intention and purpose of the constitution and accord with the smooth running of the system of paying the local government councils their allocations from the Federation Account.”
“The Supreme Court has also pronounced to the effect that paying the local government councils through the states of the Federation has not worked, therefore, justice demands that local government councils allocations from the Federation Account should henceforth be paid directly to the local government councils,” he informed.
Senator Barau went further that “Section 5 of the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc) Act 1981 prescribes the membership of the Federation Account Allocations Committee, FAAC to be only representatives of the federal government and state governments to the exclusion of the third tier of government, i.e local government councils”, adding that”this provision of the Act is no longer consistent with the current interpretation of Sections 162(5) and (6) CFRN 1999 as recently determined by the Supreme Court in its judgment of July 2024.”
He, therefore, said it has become imperative to urgently harmonize the provisions of Section 5 of the Act with the Constitution and its current interpretation by the Supreme Court.
All the senators who who contributed to the motion commended its sponsor and advised that it should be brought as a bill so that it could be processed and passed into law.