Details from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) have shown that 36 states of the federation and 774 local government councils received N8.4 billion as ecological funds in January 2023. While states got N4.6 billion, local governments received N3.8 billion.
The funds were received by states amd local governments despite their inability to justify over N64.417 billion given to them between 2021 and 2022.
A breakdown shows that Kano received N192 million, which was the highest given to singular state. It was followed by Kaduna with N152 million. Bayelsa received the lowest amount of N107 million. The states’ breakdown is shown below.
This development means that states received N69 billion as ecological fund between 2021 and January 2023.
For local governments, Abuja Municipal Council got the highest allocation of N10 million.
Ifedayo Local Government Council in Osun State got the lowest with N3.086 million.
There have been concerns over the management of ecological funds received by different tiers of government as questions of accountability remain.
States have faced flooding and environmental issues, with the most recent being in 2022.
Dataphyte’s Climate data centre shows that over 4.651 persons have been victims of flooding across states, while 304,407 houses have been affected by flooding.
The report also says that states are not ready to tackle flooding.
The Executive Director of Waterwide Nigeria, Mr Wilson Atumeyi, told Dataphyte that while ecological funds played a critical role in ecological issues, there were still issues of mismanagement and misuse.
“Ecological funds are significant for the country, but we have mismanagement issues around them. Within the same period of 2021 and 2022, we have had serious ecological problems like flooding, and you wonder where N64 billion went to because the impact of such huge money was not felt.”
He opined that state governments needed to be more transparent and accountable in using ecological funds.
A climate change advocate, Mr. Dare Akogun, noted that the ecological funds needed to be better utilised. He lamented that despite the humongous amounts allocated to states and local governments, the environment had yet to witness much change.
According to him, the poor utilisation of these funds could be blamed in part for the inability of the country to handle the 2022 flooding, calling for more government transparency to battle the impending floods.
On the way forward, Akogun called for an audit of the monies released.
“There is a need for accountability and an audit of monies released. This is how to ensure accountability and transparency in managing the funds,” he noted.
This report was produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.