Rivers floors FG over police trust fund deductions
A Federal High Court, Abuja has declared as unconstitutional the Federal Government’s deduction of funds directly from the Federation Account to fund the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in line with Section 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act 2019.
Justice Ahmed Mohammed made the declaration on Wednesday while delivering judgment in the suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/511/2020, filed by Rivers State Government against the Attorney General of the Federation (AGF), Accountant General of the Federation, Revenue Mobilisation, Allocation and Fiscal Commission (RMAFC) and the Minister of Finance.
Justice Mohammed declared that the provisions of Section 4(1)(a) and (b) of the Nigeria Police Trust Fund (Establishment) Act 2019, which require the Federal Government to deduct 0.05 per cent of any funds in the Federation Account and 0.005 per cent of the net profit of companies operating in the country to fund the police are unconstitutional.
The judge said the provisions of Section 4(1) (a) and (b) in the Nigeria Police Trust Fund Act are inconsistent with the provisions of Section 162(1) and (3) of the 1999 Constitution, which explicitly stated that the payment of total revenue collected by the Government of the Federation, including levies and taxes, must be paid into the Federation Account for sharing among the three tiers of government.
