The Niger State Government has filed a suit at the Supreme Court against the Attorney-General of the Federation, challenging its exclusion from the list of states benefiting from the 13 per cent derivation fund.
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In the originating summons filed by Senior Advocate of Nigeria, Mohammed Ndarani, the state is asking the apex court to interpret and apply Sections 232(1) and (2) of the 1999 Constitution and determine whether Niger qualifies as a resource-producing state under Section 162(2) of the Constitution.
The state is seeking inclusion in the 13 per cent derivation fund as provided under the Allocation of Revenue (Federation Account, etc.) Act, 2004, citing decades of contribution to the national grid through hydroelectric power generation.
According to the suit, the Federal Government’s failure to remit fiscal revenue accrued through hydroelectric dams located in Niger State — namely Kainji, Jebba, Shiroro and Zungeru constitutes a constitutional breach and gross neglect of the host communities.
Ndarani argued that the dams have been in operation since 1968 and have consistently contributed significant megawatts of electricity to Nigeria’s power supply, including exports to neighbouring countries like Niger, Benin, and Togo. Yet, he said, Niger State has never been recognised as a derivation beneficiary.
He explained that the Attorney-General was named as the defendant because of his statutory responsibility to advise and represent the Accountant-General, Auditor-General of the Federation, and the Revenue Mobilisation Allocation and Fiscal Commission all of whom oversee financial disbursement from the Federation Account.
Ndarani maintained that the Federal Government has continuously reaped economic benefits from the dams without considering the environmental and socio-economic toll on the host communities.
He noted that the dams occupy vast expanses of land, depriving locals of access to farmland and increasing their vulnerability to flooding. These floods, he said, have resulted in the loss of lives, livestock, and property, leading to large-scale displacement and hardship for the state’s residents.
The state government’s own Physicochemical/Microbiological Impact Assessment Report reportedly showed significant environmental degradation in affected areas — with the threat of worsening conditions in the absence of urgent remedial action.
According to figures cited in the suit, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that electricity generated from the dams into the national grid between 2020 and 2023 amounted to over 10 million megawatts cumulatively. However, there is no available data for electricity generated from 1968 to 2019.
Despite the massive revenue generated from the dams over the decades, Ndarani argued that Niger State has remained in “penury and misery,” with no commensurate compensation, infrastructure, or environmental mitigation from the Federal Government.
He criticised the lack of involvement from relevant agencies, particularly the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA), which, he said, has failed to initiate any programmes to address the environmental damage caused by the hydroelectric projects.
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