A Federal High Court in Abuja has ordered the Federal Government to pay over $3 billion to Rivers and Akwa Ibom states, as part of their revenue shares from crude oil sales.

The amount formed part of the $62 billion said to have been recovered from some oil companies by the Federal Government.

Delivering the judgement on Tuesday, Justice Taiwo Taiwo held that the notice of intention to defend the case without joining issues with the plaintiffs was an error on the part of the government.

The court also rejected the claim by the Federal Government that it cannot pay the money it received from crude oil sales adding that the defendant ought to have filed a defence to explain its position in the $62 billion oil earnings as required by law.