The term “revenue of the Federal Republic of Nigeria” (in précis, “revenue of the Federation”) encompasses all sums standing to the credit of all the federating units of the federation and liable to be paid into the Federation Account. Guided by the principle of the common good, the revenue of the Federation is held in trust for the collective benefit of all its constituent units, such that each federating unit is entitled to benefit therefrom in furtherance of the overall welfare of the Federation. Consequently, any dispute between the Federation and a State or States, or between States, touching on the subject matter of the revenue of the Federation, whether involving questions of law, fact, or mixed law and fact, falls, in the ordinary course,  within the jurisdiction of a policy-making court.

Instructively, the same Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended), which establishes the framework governing the revenue of the Federation, also expressly confers original and exclusive jurisdiction on the Supreme Court to adjudicate disputes between the Federation and a State, or between States. In clear terms, section 232(1) provides that:

“The Supreme Court shall, to the exclusion of any other court, have original jurisdiction in any dispute between the Federation and a State or between States if and in so far as that dispute involves any question (whether of law or fact) on which the existence or extent of a legal right depends.”