The House of Representatives Committee on the Ecological Fund said it will not hesitate to issue warrants of arrest against government agencies and states who continue to disregard its invitations for appearance. The Committee is probing the total consolidated accruals and utilisation of the Ecological Fund in the face of devastating floods across the country.
The recent devastating floods in 27 of Nigeria’s 36 states lend credence to the need to better understand the use and effects of the Ecological fund. More than 800 lives have been lost to the floods and thousands of citizens displaced.
The Fund was established as a special intervention of 2% from Consolidated Revenue of the Federation Account and 1% of the Derivation Allocation to address ecological problems across the federation.
These include soil erosion, flooding, drought, desertification, oil spillage, general environmental pollution, landslides and preventing suffering and possible deaths from natural disasters.
How well the Fund has been disbursed and put to use is at the centre of this gathering. But the lawmakers are unhappy about the failure of 26 states states and some MDAs to honour its invitation
Among states at the hearing are Borno, Ogun, Plateau, Niger, Kwara and Imo.
