The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has filed a lawsuit against the Central Bank of Nigeria “over the failure to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council.”
SERAP’s Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, disclosed this in a statement on Sunday. He said the group’s suit followed a landmark judgment by the Supreme Court last July, which held that allocations from the Federation Account with the CBN must be paid directly to democratically elected local government councils and that no governor has the power to keep, control or use the money meant for the councils.
In the suit number FHC/L/MSC/521/2025 filed last Friday at the Federal High Court, Lagos, SERAP is asking the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose the details of any direct payments to the 774 local government councils in Nigeria including the amounts sent to each council since the Supreme Court judgment.
The statement also noted that SERAP is also asking the court to “direct and compel the CBN to disclose whether any direct payment has been made from the Federation Account with the CBN to the local government councils in Rivers State and to explain the rationale for any such payment.”
“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.
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