Governor Nasiru Ahmed El-Rufai of Kaduna state has uncovered the discriminatory action of the immediate past Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan in the disbursement of ecological funds to state governments.
El-Rufai said that the ad-hoc committee which he heads to look into the management of the ecological funds, found out that the former President used his personal discretion to disburse N2 Billion of the fund to only the states controlled by his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
In the interim report of the 11-man committee which he presented at the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting today, Thursday, the Kaduna state governor said that 19 States plus Abuja are yet to benefit from the fund.
He named the states as Adamawa, Akwa-Ibom, Borno, Edo, Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo, Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe, Zamfara, and FCT.
“Several other states had benefitted in the previous administration, in 2013, an action described as discriminatory. Thirteen billion Naira is now available for sharing to States, since N20 billion must be left in the account for unknown national emergencies.
Governor El-Rufai said that before the sharing formula is designed, states which did not partake in the sharing during Jonathan’s government should be given the same N2 Billion to level up.
The governor said that the revised sharing formula of the Ecological Funds as modified is as follows:
– Federal Government – 1%
– States – 0.72%
– LGAs – 0.60%
He said that all States and Local Government Areas have got their share of the Ecological Fund, and that the only thing left is the Federal Government’s share of 1%
“Of the 1% belonging to the FG, (which now stands at N33.6 billion) NEMA and Great Green Wall project are statutorily entitled to 20% and 15 % respectively.
“Only 65% of the FG’s share is available for sharing
“The report gave details of how the entire Ecological Fund has been utilized and noted that there is need to establish a clear criteria for sharing the 65% of the FG share among States of the Federation.” [myad]
