A review of Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) data, as published by the Office of the Accountant General, has revealed that N36.6 billion was disbursed as local government allocations to Rivers State for January and February 2025.
According to the data, N16.7 billion was allocated to the state in January, while N19.9 billion was released in February.
The funds were distributed among the 23 local government areas of the state.
In March, the Attorney General of the Federation, Lateef Fagbemi (SAN), affirmed at a State House press briefing that the allocations were released to the new administration in Rivers State following the declaration of a state of emergency.
“And to me, it will be in order for the release of that fund because the event of the extraordinary situation has brought them out of the normal situation of things,” he said in reference to the question on the appropriateness of releasing the withheld allocations of Rivers State.
SaharaReporters previously reported that the Human and Environmental Development Agenda (HEDA Resource Centre) had petitioned the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), calling for the immediate suspension of local government allocations to Rivers State due to alleged constitutional violations by the state’s Sole Administrator, Vice Admiral Ibok-Ete Ekwe Ibas (rtd).
HEDA accused the Sole Administrator of illegally dismissing all elected local government chairmen on April 9, 2025, replacing them with appointed officials.
The group described this as a “flagrant breach” of Section 7 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended), which guarantees the existence of democratically elected local councils.
The petition further referenced the recent Supreme Court ruling in AG Federation v. AG Abia State & Ors (2024) 17 NWLR (Pt. 1966) 1, which upheld the constitutional mandate that only democratically elected officials may govern local governments.
The court explicitly ruled that any governance of local governments by appointed caretakers or administrators is unconstitutional, illegal, and void. It should be noted that, between January and November 2024, Rivers State received an average of N14.347 billion in monthly local government allocations.
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