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The Nigerian Governors’ Forum (NGF) has maintained deafening silence and an unusual calm, as calls mount for probe into the disbursement and utilization of ecological funds occasioned by the 2022 floods described as Nigeria’s worst in a decade.
TheNewsGuru.com (TNG) reported that despite early predictions and warnings, heavy rainfall and the release of water from several dams resulted in severe flooding across 31 states in the country, killing 600 people, displacing more than 1.3 persons and destroying over 70, 000 hectares of farmlands.
The devastation also cut petrol supply to some parts of the country, hiked the prices of transportation, foodstuffs and other commodities, increased the number of out-of-school-children and exacerbated Nigeria’s economic crisis, leading to calls for probe into ecological fund spendings.
The Ecological Fund under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (OSGF), was established in 1981 to set aside and manage a pool of fund that would be solely devoted to the funding of ecological projects to mitigate serious ecological problems.
The Fund known as Derivation and Ecology Fund, which initially constituted one per cent (1%) of the Federation Account, was later increased to two per cent (2%) in 1992 and all States and Local Governments receive their share of the Fund as part of their monthly allocation at the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC) monthly meetings.
However, over the years, the utilization of this Fund has remained a subject of controversy and allegations of corruption and mismanagement have undermined the ability of the government to tackle soil erosion and climate change challenges across several parts of the country.
Moreso, reports by both the Auditor-General for the Federation (OauGF) and Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI), indicate mismanagement and diversion of the Funds.
According to the 2016 Auditor-General’s report, examination of FAAC records revealed that a total amount of N48,601,928,311.08 was received into the Ecological Fund in the year, but the sum of N28,239,060,570.89 representing about 58 per cent was paid out as loan to carry out various activities that were not related to development of natural resources.
“We recommend that henceforth, the federal government deploys these special funds only for the stated objectives of the funds,” the then Auditor-General for the Federation Anthony Ayine stated.
Similarly, a NEITI report examining the period between 2012-2016 revealed that a total of N276.51 billion was allocated to the Fund, but disbursements from the fund were made to beneficiaries outside the purpose of setting up the Fund, while ecological projects were abandoned due to lack of funds.
The House of Representatives in June mandated its Committee on Ecological Fund to investigate the total consolidated mandatory accruals into the Ecological Fund from 2010 to March 2022 and evaluate the disbursement of the Fund in line with the provision of the 1999 Constitution, but the outcome of this probe is yet to be made public.
In the same vein, the Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), has called for a prompt and thorough investigation into the spending of Ecological Fund by governments at all levels—federal, state and local governments from 2001 to date.
“Suspected perpetrators of corruption and mismanagement should face prosecution as appropriate, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and any missing public funds should be fully recovered,” SERAP’s deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare said in an open letter addressed to President Muhammadu Buhari on 22nd October.
Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity Garba Shehu, has confirmed that each of the three tiers -the local government, the state government and the Federal Government – has a sizeable budget at its disposal, allocated monthly precisely for dealing with state-level natural emergencies such as flooding.
“It is not clear why some of the state governments in question are not already drawing upon those funds to tackle the current emergency, and the general population is misguidedly calling on the Federal Government to intervene in all situations,” Shehu said.
He stressed that the structure of the federation provides a process for responding to emergencies such as flooding, adding that states should be made to explain how they had deployed their share of the Fund.
Interestingly, State governors have remained mum over the matter. ThenewsGuru.com (TNG) recalls that in 2016, state governors under the aegis of the NGF, demanded for the immediate disbursement of ecological fund to their respective states.
Former Chairman of the Forum Abdulaziz Yari of Zamfara State, said the Governors were “seriously concerned” about the environment – the desertification in the North, oil and gas spills in the South-South and erosion in the South-East – and needed the funds to tackle these challenges.
“We have a lot of funds in the ecological stabilisation funds. Those funds are not being discussed at National Economic Council. We will like to have this fund available every month because those funds are federation funds and we are having so many problems. We need the money,” Yari said.
The NGF said it had examined the issue of flooding across the length and breadth of the country in which some states were severely affected and decided to take necessary steps to ameliorate the conditions of the states affected by flooding via a strong representation to the president, but said nothing about the ecological funds which States draw from monthly.
Human Rights Lawyer Femi Falana said instead of inciting citizens to demand an explanation which will be ignored by state governments, the federal government should submit a petition to the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the investigation of the mismanagement of the ecological fund which is a crime against humanity.
Falana said “the mismanagement of ecological fund is a crime against humanity because it is responsible for the loss of many lives, displacement of millions of people, and destruction of properties worth trillions of Naira.
“In particular, the federal government has failed to release money from the ecological fund to the affected states. On their own part, the various state governments have equally failed to provide relief materials for the victims.”
SERAP also added that although ecological funds are shared across the three tiers of government, and emergency management agencies, the funds are managed and supervised by the Federal Government and as such, the Buhari-led government had the legal obligations to hold all tiers of government and emergency management agencies to account.
“Your government has the legal obligations to address the calamitous consequences of flooding for the human rights of millions of people, and to prevent and address some of the direst consequences that climate change may reap on human rights, especially given the disproportionate impact on vulnerable people and communities.”
“Your government must use all means available to it to prevent and address the threats to human rights that result from climate change, and to provide access to effective remedies for victims when these rights are violated,” SERAP said.
Since 2015, 332 ecological projects have been approved, out of which the Presidency claims 266 were accomplished while the remaining 66 are at different stages of completion.