OVER N454.3B ECOLOGICAL FUNDS SHARED BETWEEN FEDERAL AND STATE GOVERNMENT: Environment remain inhabitable in some States of the Federation
Steve Zaan Abuja
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended in section 20 provides that, the state shall protect and improve the environment and safeguard the water, air and land, forest and wild life of Nigeria.
By the above constitutional requirement, the fundamental objective and direct principles of state policies has placed solely, the role of safeguarding the environment that guaranteed the existence and enjoyment of other inalienable rights like right to life in the hands of government.
Against this backdrop, the Ecological Fund was established in 1981 through the Federation Account of 1981 which was later modified by Decree 36 1984, and 106 of 1992; as well as the Allocation of Revenue/ Federation Account (Modification) Order of 2002. The Ecological Fund originally received upwards to 2% of the Federation Account in 1992. From its inception in 1981, it has been a first line charge which provides handy resources for amelioration of ecological problems such as soil erosion, flood, draught, desertification, oil spillage, bushfire, crop pest, landslide, earthquake etc.
The mission of the Fund is to serve as a strategic instrument for ameliorating ecological problem nationwide through effective management, co-ordination, monitoring and implementation of government ecological policies and programmes and projects whilst its vision is to ensure effective implementation of government and ecological problem has provided sustained and substantial financial resources for the control of such problems and their impacts.
Nevertheless, Ecological Funds resources are shared between the Federal Government and the states of the Federation. A total of N454, 315,118,435 has been shared between Federal Government and States in the year 2007 to 2015 without corresponding climate adaption improvement to be seen across the state, as can be seen yearly, almost all the states of the Federation experienced one form of ecological problem ranging from bushfire, to flooding and the most recent one desertification, and pest which are all occasioned due to changes in climatic conditions
A breakdown of the Monthly FAAC Disbursement into Ecological Fund Account 2007 to 2015 based on content uploaded on ecologicalfund.gov.ng shows that N33,394,706,126 was disbursed in the year 2007, N43,283,796,811 in 2008, N39,023,359,681 in 2009 and a total of N45,761,022,642 in 2010 have so far been disbursed by the Federation account.
The data further showed that in 2011 N58,810,711,966, N61,706,114,144 in 2012 N67,895,973,969 in 2013 N57,308,690,444 in 2014 and N47,130,742,650
The breakdown of Monthly FAAC disbursement into Ecological Fund Account From 2007 To 2015 is further shown in the table below:
| MONTH | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 |
| January | 1,806, O65,191.64 | 2,369,735,198.99 | 3482,741,913.58 | 5,073,629,346.84 |
| February | 2,032,105,613.28 | 2,142,102,473.44 | 2,121,456,416.37 | 3,865,563041.25 |
| March | 3,952,410,416.21 | 4,235,368,207.61 | 3,004,137,915.86 | 2,642,788,100.37 |
| April | 2,591,628,886.01 | 3,526,531,602.86 | 3,546,829,091.27 | 2,071,269,993.01 |
| May | 2,592,440,984,83 | 6,219,528,011.22 | 2,524,218,250.47 | 6,074,537,088.43 |
| June | 2,596,418,754.94 | 3,512,440,390.91 | 2,529,312,431.48 | 3,167,310,299.43 |
| July | 3,473,972,356.65 | 3,648,863,665.45 | 2,547,473,237.87 | 3,194,789,358.22 |
| August | 3,749,214,997.48 | 3,526,681,575.87 | 5,450,371,485.78 | 5,293,468,135.89 |
| September | 2,603,910,766.76 | 3,529,751,860.23 | 2,726,273,462.68 | 3,434,242,153.25 |
| October | 2,611,620,707.31 | 3,516,602,444.21 | 5,338,853,448.71 | 3,222,229,520.15 |
| November | 2,604,417,545.85 | 3,524,960,693.94 | 2,788,205,839.03 | 3,214,652,559.41 |
| December | 2,780,497,900.18 | 3,531,228,678.44 | 2,963,484.178.65 | 4,506,541,035.25 |
| Total | 33,394,706,126 | 43,283,796,811 | 39,023,359,681 | 45,761,022,642 |
Furthermore, the Monthly FAAC disbursement into Ecological Fund Account From 2011 To 2015 shows a complete cycle of disbursement for ten years:
| MONTH | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 |
| JANUARY | 2,212,968,167.77 | 5,542,369,402.21 | 5,704,318,647.60 | 4,507,467,600.94 | 4,418,546,830.51 |
| February | 3,203,313,043.59 | 4,55,077,172.29 | 4,450,069,631.28 | 4,770,602,986.35 | 3,929,196,368.14 |
| March | 3,195,025,708.47 | 6,194,844,244.82 | 7,166,196,844.11 | 5,008,085,726.25 | 4,547,567,446.64 |
| April | 3,202,912,523.66 | 4,791,931,906.67 | 5,796,040,864.50 | 5,037,527,249.69 | 3,275,102,349.57 |
| May | 3,632,836,857.48 | 4,361,823,647.30 | 6,338,402,423.48 | 5,037,064,777.28 | 2,843,742,135.24 |
| June | 4,853,700,948.90 | 4,378,030,164.33 | 5,839,497,578.83 | 7,056,886,811.40 | 3,273,614,341.30 |
| July | 9,082,408,045.46 | 4,133,442,825.78 | 6,695,061,731.20 | 6,147,772,395.35 | 7,782,214,871.94 |
| August | 4,897,226,053.86 | 5,700,428,545.68 | 4,628,108,395.60 | 5,193,932,545.45 | 4.014,751,675.21 |
| September | 4,913,341,293.04 | 4,137,178,642.02 | 5,674,658,849.76 | – | 3,364,662,185.45 |
| October | 5,486,728,765.40 | 4,117,504,158.88 | 4,792,080,563.85 | 4,848,394,169.95 | 3,039,213,922.68 |
| November | 8,260,186,131.65 | 5,626,169,943.66 | 5,714,112,250.09 | 4,686,553,275.31 | 3.830,334,055.05 |
| December | 4,870,062,416.19 | 7,867,311,478.12 | 5,097,424,175.46 | 5,014,400,891,58 | 2,811,794,453.58 |
| Total | 58,810,711,966 | 61,706,114,144 | 67,895,973,969 | 57,308,690,444 | 47,130,742,650 |
The worst of the mismanagement of the Ecological can be witnessed at the State level as can be seen in the past. Suffice is to say that, the Fund especially at the State level has in the past been beset by corruption and misapplication of the Funds mostly to fund pollical campaign.
The question that will follow is that, considering the huge amount spent so far from 2007 to 2015, if these funds have been judiciously applied or properly managed, most of the ecological problems bedeviling most States of the Federation like Edo, Benue, Kogi Enugu among others where flooding has become a reoccurring decimal.
The antigraft agencies perhaps can beam their searchlight to ascertain how most States of the Federation that received the ecological funds have equally managed the funds. This will further strengthen the management of other intervention funds received by States and also block leakages of State funds.
Again the Federal Government sometimes in December, 2020 said it has received more than 1,752 requests worth N1.4trillion from state governments, National Assembly members and other stakeholders for intervention on ecological challenges at a time when funds are not available.
Permanent Secretary, Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Dr Habiba Lawal, who made this known at 2020 annual media interactive session in Abuja, lamented that dwindling resources as a result of crash in the price of crude caused by COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the operation of the Fund. She disclosed that out of the N1.4 billion, four state governors demanded N300 billion to address ecological challenges in their states.
The Permanent Secretary noted this could not be met because of paucity of fund. While calling on the state and local governments to make judicious use of their share of the Ecological Fund, Lawal disclosed that the hitherto 3.00 percent allocated to Ecology and Derivation Funds was redistributed based on the modification Order of 2002, with states and Local government councils getting 0.77 and 0.60 per cent respectively, while the Federal Government is gets 1.46 percent.
How has the state Governors justified the expenditure? What are the projects they have executed to guarantee additional founding? The TRANSMITTER will keep track of the Fund from 2015 to 2019 to ascertain the level of the funds utilization.
