The government of Niger State has taken the federation’s attorney general and justice minister to the Supreme Court over the state’s exclusion from the 13 percent derivation. Through Mohammed Ndarani (SAN), the state government’s attorney, the top court was urged to interpret and apply section 232 (1) & (2) of the Nigerian constitution.
The Enactment of Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc.) Act, 2004’s 13 percent derivation is another goal of the lawsuit. He requests that the court decide whether Niger State is ineligible to be included in the group of states that generate natural resources and, as a result, are entitled to a thirteen percent derivation under the 1999 Constitution’s 162(2).
The lawsuit focuses on the federal government’s exclusion of Niger State from the 13 percent derivation’s beneficiary states. It also concerns the failure to send the money received from the construction of hydroelectric power dams in Niger State, as well as the territory and some of its resources, to the national grid for Nigeria’s overall electricity generation since 1968.
According to Ndarani, the state is home to four significant hydroelectricity dams: Kainji Dam, Jebba Dam, Shiroro Dam, and Zungeru Dam. These dams provide electricity to several states in Nigeria. He added that the Federal Government provides the Republics of Benin, Togo, and Niger with electricity through these power plants. He claimed that because the attorney general has an oversight legal counsel function over advising and representing the accountant general, he was taken before the highest court.
“Preparing the nation’s financial statements based on the collection and receipt of income, fees, rentals, and taxes, as well as their payment from the Federation Account, is the Accountant-General’s constitutional responsibility”, he stated. He claimed that although the defendant has been failing to fulfill its responsibilities over the years, it nevertheless represents and counsels the president on all legal issues pertaining to the president’s obligations.
According to him, this should have been done to guarantee that resources were distributed fairly in accordance with the existing situation, especially in light of the state’s massive fiscal revenue.
Since the people of Niger State are subsistence farmers whose produce is consumed both within and outside the state, the learned silk said that the state is entirely agrarian. He pointed out that many Niger State inhabitants and residents are deprived of the chance to participate in agricultural activities due to the vast area of land that the dams have taken over.
