Lagos, Kano Get Lion’s Share In N42bn Ecology Fund – NBS
The 36 states of the federation shared N41.79bn allocation from the Ecology Fund in 2022.
This was according to data from the distribution of Ecology Revenue allocation to states by Federation Account Allocation Committee. The data, comprising records from January to December 2022, was obtained from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics.
Also referred to as the Ecological Fund, it is an intervention fund by the Federal Government to address the multifarious ecological challenges in various communities across the country.
Economic Confidential observed that the states shared N3.44bn in January, N2.43bn in February, N2.89bn in March, N3.37bn in April, N3.18bn in May, and N2.53bn in June.
The states shared N4bn in July, N5.19bn in August, N3.11bn in September, N3.62bn in October, N3.58bn in November and N4.46bn in December 2022.
While the highest allocation was in August, the lowest allocation was in February.
Our correspondent also observed Kano had the highest total allocation of N1.75bn in 2022.
It was followed by Lagos with N1.48bn, Kaduna with N1.44bn, Borno with N1.37bn and Katsina with N1.35bn.
Bayelsa had the lowest allocation of N975.2m, followed by Kwara with N981.08m, Ekiti with N985.47m and Ebonyi with N986.03m.
It was further noted that some States like Abia, Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa, Benue, Cross River, Delta, Edo, Imo, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Niger, Ondo, Plateau and Rivers transferred 50 per cent of their share to Niger Delta Development Commission and Hydroelectric Power Producing Areas Development Commission.
While the NDDC was introduced to develop the Niger Delta regions, the HYPPADEC was introduced to manage the ecological menace to the operation of dams in the country.
In the 2023 performance scorecard presented by the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Management, Sadiya Farouq recently, she said 4,476,867 people were affected by flooding and 3,181 sustained injuries from the disaster, while no fewer than 2,437,411 people were displaced from their various settlements.
She also noted that the impact analysis of the report on the 2022 floods across the country revealed that no fewer than 655 people lost their lives while 676,945 farmlands and 356, 086 houses were destroyed.
She added that 216,345 households equivalent to 1,298,070 people benefitted from the relief materials distributed by the National Emergency Management Authority in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, noting that further assistance was rendered to affected communities to support their rehabilitation and recovery from the aftermath of the disaster.
The report partly read, “Food items were distributed per household. NEMA distributed relief materials to the 36 states and the FCT in three tranches reaching 216,345 households synonymous to 1,298,070 persons.”
“We have distributed relief materials to all the 36 states of the federation and the FCT and more assistance is still being provided to communities in need across the 36 states and the FCT as well as to support rehabilitation and recovery. We also received and distributed donations from the United Arab Emirates and Jordan governments to the severely affected states.”
It was also reported that the 2022 floods in various parts of Nigeria led to an estimated economic loss of $9.12bn.
It said this was revealed after a post-disaster assessment of the 2022 flooding, as the report on this was released in Abuja by the Federal Ministry of Humanitarian Affairs, Disaster Management and Social Development.
It was also noted the number of persons affected rose above 4.9 million as of November 25, 2022, with significant damage to infrastructure, including roads, irrigation and river, as well as electricity projects, with around $0.959 – $1.724bn in damage expected.
In November last year, the House of Representatives Committee on Ecology, initiated an investigation of states and agencies over money released to them under the Ecological Fund.
The committee carried out the probe after paying oversight visits to some states ravaged by floods.
