The National Agency for the Great Green Wall is said to have spent a staggering N81.2 billion on the planting of 21 million trees across 11 frontline states, according to records found by the House of Representatives on Wednesday.
Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno are the states in question.
The lawmakers raised concerns about the conflicting financial reports provided by the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Office of the Accountant General of the Federation, and the Great Green Wall during the investigative hearing into the “Utilisation of ecological funds released to National Great Green Wall from 2015 to date.” They also questioned some of the expenditures made during the period under consideration.
After carefully reading the documents provided to the Ad-hoc Committee, the lawmakers who spoke said that N11.28 billion was spent on capital projects, N697.372 billion and another N500 billion, as well as N480.657 billion, were spent on renovating office space, and some projects completed by lawmakers under the Constituency Project were claimed as its project and three States participated in the tree-planting exercise.
The senators questioned the use of many billion naira in the Agency’s account for years without returning them to the government coffer in accordance with the rules at the time.
The parliamentarians bemoaned the Agency’s failure to conduct a financial audit since its creation. They disapproved of the enormous sums spent on capacity building and other subheads unrelated to the Agency’s statutory duties.
The parliamentarians who commented on their independent findings said that 80% of the trees planted by the Agency did not live, which alarmed them given the Agency’s incapacity to support the majority of the tree planting programmes carried out thus far.
Recall that in 2015, some Federal Ministry of Environment officers misappropriated N1 billion that belonged to the Agency, but Independent Corrupt Practices and other Related Offenses were able to retrieve it.
According to the authorities, the Bureau de Change and a few financial institutions helped carry out the illegal transfers.
The Central Bank of Nigeria reported in a 6-page document dated August 22, 2023, with Reference No. BKS/CSO/CON/NASS/005/082 that the Agency’s account has held a total of N9,465,960,382.57 since 2015.
The CBN Director, Mr. Samuel Okudere, revealed in his presentation that only one of the seven accounts opened by the Agency was a mandated account.
According to the data provided by Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, Accountant General of the Federation, a total of N19.378 billion has been disbursed to the Agency since February 2019 from the Derivation & Ecological Accounts.
The Agency additionally received N11.02 billion in capital expenditures from the AGF.
President Muhammadu Buhari has approved the transfer of N2.309 billion to the Agency as a September 2020 Statutory 5% Environment Fund, according to the Director of the AGF, Mrs Irene Nwangwu.
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The Great Green Wall Act, which Mr. President signed in 2015, allows the Agency to implement the Nigerian component of the programme as an African Union initiative being implemented in 11 African countries to cogently address the problem of land degradation, desertification, drought, climate change, and livelihood of affected communities, according to NAGGW Managing Director Dr. Yusuf Bukar in response to questions from the lawmakers.
He said the Great Green Wall had planted a million trees in Borno, Yobe, and other states, spending N2.4 billion in the first phase and N7.3 billion in the second.
He continued by saying that among the funds accruing to the Great Green Wall account are: 15% of the ecological fund for the Great Green Wall; a contribution from the fund for the development of natural resources; and gifts, loans, and grants in aid from national bilateral, multilateral, and donor organisations; international and development agencies; as well as private individuals.
He confirmed that the Agency receives funding from donor agencies but was unable to produce the necessary records to support the amount so far.
He acknowledged that the Great Green Wall had strayed from its initial mandate when responding to inquiries about different violations in the execution of its functions.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas outlined the Ad-hoc Committee’s mandate during the investigative session’s flag-off.
From 2015 to the present, all releases and funding received from donors or international organisations; The use of ecological funds released to the Great Green Wall by international organisations; all contracts granted to different contractors for the project from 2015 to date; the total amount received through the policy; and the degree of compliance with the goals and objectives of the projects. All budgetary and other Federal allocations to the National Agency for the Great Green Wall from 2015 to date.
The goals of this investigative hearing, according to Abbas, whom Hon. Dickson Tarkir represented, are to gather information to ensure that the programme is carried out as effectively as possible, identify obstacles impeding project execution, uncover corruption, and provide guidance to the new administration.
In addition, the use of public funds and ensuring that they implement the hearing’s recommendations, not to mention donations from both domestic and international donor organisations, fulfil the legislature’s duty to set yearly financial rules and regulations of public interest.
The Ad-hoc Committee’s Chairman, Hon. Isma’ila Dabo, stated in his remarks that this investigation was required in order to provide fair hearings to all parties and for all issues affecting the project’s successful implementation to be brought to the table because these environmental challenges persisted despite funds being invested in the programme from both the federal government and international partners.
Furthermore, expenditures of public funds and ensuring such expenditures are in line with this hearing fulfil the parliamentary responsibility to set down rules of public interest and annual budgetary provisions, not forgetting donations from both domestic and international donor agencies.”
In his remarks, the Chairman of the Ad-hoc Committee, Hon. Isma’ila Dabo observed that the persistence of these environmental challenges despite funds put into the programme from both the federal government and international partners necessitated this investigation to provide fair hearings to all parties and for all issues affecting successful implementation of the project to be brought on the table.
He noted that “after this hearing, we shall embark on, an on-the-spot assessment tour to all the projects executed under this scheme to ascertain the claims.
“The Ad-hoc committee is resolute in undertaking this assignment in the interest of all Nigerians. We are not here to scandalize any individual or organization but only to ensure that public funds are utilised for the purpose they are meant for. We will not shy away from pointing fingers where necessary, not out of personal animosity but simply in the national interest of our nation.”
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