SAHARA REPORTERS
A SaharaReporters review of the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee’s data published by the National Bureau of Statistics, has shown that Borno received N815.9 million as ecological funds between January and June 2024.
The money is broken down into N139.8 million in January, N154.9 million in February, N127.9 million in March, N119.5 million in April, N142.2 million in May and N131.6 million in June.
Notwithstanding the receipt of the funds, the state government failed to prevent the collapse of the Alau Dam, despite warnings about the possible collapse of the dam.
The ecological funds are aimed at ameliorating serious ecological problems nationwide and are disbursed to federal government, states and local governments.
It was learnt that there were early warnings that the dam might collapse, but it was dismissed by the state government.
Secretary to the Borno State Government, Alhaji Bukar Tijani, earlier stated that the “Dam is not broken”.
“Borno State Government is partnering very strongly with the managers of Alau Dam. We have discussed and seen what to do, but the rumour of Maiduguri being flooded is not there,” he had assured.
The state government’s decision to minimize the significance of the issue or possibly display a lack of foresight regarding the potential ramifications of the dam’s condition is perplexing, especially considering the financial resources allocated monthly for ecological purposes, amounting to millions of naira.
SaharaReporters earlier reported that the state only spent N20 million on erosion and flooding control in the first six months of 2024, meaning that it spent only 2.4% of the ecological funds received in the first six months of 2024 on erosion and flooding control.
Odeh Friday, accountability expert and director of Accountability Lab, asserted that the ecological funds in the country have, regrettably, been squandered due to a glaring lack of transparency and accountability, thereby rendering the funds ineffective in achieving their intended purposes.
“People will continue to suffer from the impact of poor accountability from political office holders. There have been lots of lack of accountability around ecological funds and it has become a waste of resources.
“There is a need for proper accountability around the management of these funds,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) has said 200,000 people were displaced by the recent flooding in Maiduguri.
It noted that an unspecified number of people, including children were still missing.
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