Poor Accountability Trails N44billion Ecological Funds Disbursed To States, LGAs As Flooding K!lls Over 170 Nigerians
In January 2024, states and local governments got N7.7 billion ecological funds. States received N4.2 billion while local governments received N3.5 billion.
Areview of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) data published by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) has shown that the sum of N44.9billion was received by states and local governments as ecological funds between January and June 2024.
The development comes amid accountability issues on how states spend the monies meant to tackle ecological issues such as flooding and erosion.
In January 2024, states and local governments got N7.7 billion ecological funds. States received N4.2 billion while local governments received N3.5 billion.
In February, N4.7 billion was disbursed to states while N3.9 billion was disbursed to local government councils.
The amount received in March by states stood at N3.9 billion while that of local government councils was N3.2 billion.
In April 2024, states received N3.6 billion while local governments got N3 billion.
The figure stood at N4.3 billion for states in May and N3.6 billion for Local governments in same period.
In June, state governments received N4 billion as ecological funds while local governments got N3.3 billion.
SaharaReporters reports that the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) reported that severe flooding has led to the deaths of 179 people and the displacement of 208,655 others across 22 states in Nigeria so far this year.
There have been concerns on utilisation of ecological funds by states.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that states had failed to spend on flooding and erosion control despite the billions received as ecological funds with budget performance documents showing poor expenditures and in some cases zero naira expenditures.
Despite poor accountability, the federal government voted to support states with another N3billion.
The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) in 2022 called on President Muhammadu Buhari to “direct the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mr Abubakar Malami, SAN, and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to promptly and thoroughly investigate the spending of the Ecological Fund by governments at all levels—federal, state, and local government.
In an open letter dated October 22, 2022, and signed by SERAP’s deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said “trillions of ecological funds have allegedly gone down the drain”.
“The resulting human costs directly threaten human rights – rights to life and to a place to live – rights that your government has an obligation to protect,” it said.
In the same year, the country experienced massive flooding that led to loss of lives and properties.
