Hon. Justice G.O. Kolawole of the Federal High Court has ordered President Muhammadu Buhari to set the limits of the consolidated debt of Federal, State and Local Governments.
According to the judgement this is in compliance with section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act.
The judgement, delivered 20 February 2018, was sequel to a suit No. FHC/ABJ/CS/302/2013, filed by the Centre for Social Justice Limited (CSJ) against five defendants including the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Muhammadu Buhari; the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the House of Representatives of the Federal Republic of Nigeria; the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun; and the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami.
The Lead Director of the Centre Barrister Eze Onyekpere said Friday in a statement that the CSJ through Originating Summons posed two questions for determination: …And whether this Honourable Court can compel the Defendants to set and enforce the overall limits for the amounts of consolidated debt of the Federal, State and Local Governments in Nigeria pursuant to Section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007.
The CSJ also demanded a declaration that the president’s continued refusal to set the overall limits for the amounts of consolidated debt of the federal, state and local governments in Nigeria constitutes a violation of section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act 2007 and a violation of Nigeria’s constitution.
According to the judgement attached to the statement the defendants pleaded inter alia that compliance with the provision of Section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act will be difficult and it is a process that takes a lot of time as it will involve the computation of the Gross Domestic Product of states and the reconstruction of their domestic debt data.
The defendants also raised other technical issues including the fact that this limitation should have been set by the defendants within 90 days of the commencement of the Fiscal Responsibility Act on July 30, 2007. As such, the defendants argued that the cause of action had lapsed and the fact that President Muhammadu Buhari was not the president at the time of the commencement of the Act weighed against the plaintiff’s action.
But the court ruled against the defendants and granted the relief sought by the plaintiff.
“Having regard to the answers given to the two (2) questions based on my interpretation of the provision of section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, supra, that it is mandatory, it is my decision that the reliefs being sought ought to succeed, and they are granted as pleaded.
“In relation to relief (4) in the Plaintiff’s “Originating Summons”, in the exercise of my inherent jurisdiction pursuant to the provision of Order 56 Rule 1 of the Federal High Court (Civil Procedure) Rules, 2009, the 1st and 4th Defendants shall within 90 days from today, comply with and execute the provision of Section 42 (1) of the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 2007,” the ruling said in parts. – Daily Trust.
