2 months ago
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The Maiduguri flooding disaster has forced Nigerians to start asking questions. Seeing the magnitude of the catastrophe and how helpless the state government is, people are wondering, ‘Wait a minute, what about the ecological fund? Was it not supposed to help the state prepare for such ecological emergencies? What have they been doing with the money all these years?’
It is a valid question, if for nothing else, at least for the fact that by its very name, it is money for ecological projects. But for some of us who know what’s on the ground, there is nothing more deceptive than naming a country’s official slush fund after the environment. Yet, now that we are galvanized enough, we could at least use the energy to achieve something in the environmental governance ecosystem.
From Anka to Nanka, the Nigerian ecosystem is besieged by horrendous ecological disasters that did not surface overnight but were left to degrade and fester. Indeed, most erosion, flooding, desertification, and other ecological hazards started as minor cracks and anomalies but became what they are today, because they were not given the required attention. They would not have gained any foothold if they had been tackled at the onset. This is exactly why the government established the ecological fund.
The ecological fund is an intervention fund by the Federal Government, specially designated for addressing the multifarious ecological challenges in various communities across the country. It was originally constituted as one percent of the Federation Account, reviewed to two percent in 1992, and later one percent of the derivation allocation was added, thus bringing the total percentage to three percent. The states and local governments receive their share of the Derivation and Ecology Fund as part of their monthly allocation at the Federal Account Allocation Committee monthly meetings.
People are now beaming the searchlight on the Borno State government. It received N816.34 million from the ecological fund between January and June 2024. The previous year, 2023, it received N749.68 million for the same period (January–June). However, out of this fund, it was only able to spend less than 2% on ecological projects. According to Nairametrics.com, Borno earmarked N1.653 billion for flood control in its 2024 revised budget.
However, it has only spent N20 million so far in 2024—representing only 1.2% of the budget for erosion and flood control. In fact, 2023 was worse; there was zero expenditure on ecological projects. In that year’s budget, N1.042 billion was allocated for flood and erosion control, but no funds were disbursed or spent for this budgetary allocation throughout the entire year.
One then asks, if the government spent such a paltry sum on the environment, what else was it spending money on? Of course, one’s spending bias is indicative of their priority. As the good book says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”
To be sure, there are many ecological problems begging for solutions. There are flood control measures to be conducted, disaster preparedness and response infrastructure to be established, buffer dams to be built, and windbreakers to be planted. In fact, there is monitoring and evaluation to be conducted on the entire northeast ecosystem, which by its nature is vulnerable to the effects of climate change—heat waves, droughts, rainstorms, and desertification. All these require money, which has been disbursed. But the budgeted ecological project funds are underutilised or diverted to other non-ecological projects.
The sad reality is that the ecological fund is seen as a slush fund, to be disbursed to cronies and political associates. A former Speaker of the House of Representatives once called it a ghost fund. It is really a ghost because no one knows where it goes. Blessed with the name of the environment, it miraculously finds itself financing dissimilar projects, like furnishing offices, purchasing SUVs, facilitating courtesy visits, etc. It also has a way of influencing the government’s body language. When the contractor feels that the job is “just a way to compensate” him, it is no wonder that most of such projects are abandoned and the money embezzled.
There was a report submitted by the International Centre for Investigative Reporting on this issue, which was pathetically indicting successive governments on the misuse of this special eco-intervention fund. There was evidence of abandoned projects and others haphazardly done in such a way that the environmental problems of the people became even worse than they were before the contractor mobilized to the site. Yet, there were corruption-ridden cases where contracts were awarded and money disbursed, but no work was done whatsoever.
There is no gainsaying the truth that the lack of transparency in the application of the ecological fund has cost us more than we can ever evaluate. According to a four-year audit of the Ecological Fund Office carried out by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, between 2007 and 2011, the government diverted several billions of naira from the fund to projects clearly not ecological in nature.
According to NEITI, in the period under review, a total of N217 billion was allocated to the fund. The utilization of the funds was, however, largely questionable. Money was given out to government Ministries, Departments, and Agencies, including the military, for projects that were not ecologically related. From the N33 billion that accrued to the ecological fund in 2007, N6.8 billion was given to the Federal Capital Development Authority for projects such as the development of a mall and the provision of engineering infrastructure to Kubwa and Karshi satellite towns.
Another way the ecological fund is misused is by doing nothing until ecological disasters happen. It is a lethal conspiracy, which I see as scientific fraud. Instead of using the fund for preventive ecological interventions, they wait until disaster strikes, and then quickly release the money just to buy relief materials for flood victims. In this way, a lot of money is skimmed off the top as they cook the books. They buy blankets, mats, bread, and rice, and distribute them to the refugees. Money is retired; case closed!
The damage this does to our society can only be imagined. Critical eco-related infrastructure like dams, drainage systems, and waterways are never visible to the ordinary citizen as some other utilities—electricity, roads, etc.—are, until the rains start pouring. But then, it is too late. All the houses, roads, farms, schools, and livelihoods are washed away simply because one government official signed off the fund to one contractor and looked the other way while the contractor did nothing.
A couple of years ago, there was a tragic flooding incident in Benue State. After the disaster, it was revealed that a particular contractor who was given about N1 billion to provide drainage channels absconded with the money. This means that if the drainage channels had been constructed according to plan, perhaps the flooding would have been contained to a large extent. People would not have died, buildings would not have been submerged and properties would not have been destroyed. But at the time the project was approved, there was no flood, and nobody held him to account.
It was reported that when the residents of the streets behind the Benue Civil Service Commission told the governor, Samuel Ortom, of this development during his post-flood inspection, he assured them that the matter was being handled by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. But the deed had been done. The EFCC cannot bring back dead citizens and lost properties. This is what runs through my mind when I look at Maiduguri. Would the flooding be this bad if the government had deployed the ecological fund for operational maintenance of the Alau Dam?
