The House of Representatives has absolved the National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) of alleged mismanagement of N81.2 billion Ecological Fund.
The agency was cleared in a report of the 15-man Ad Hoc Committee set up by the Green Chamber to investigate alleged financial sleaze by the agency.
TheHintsNews reports that the Ad hoc committee chaired by Hon. Ismaila Dabo, was set up in July, following a motion moved at the plenary by Hon. Ali Shettima on “the Need to Investigate the Utilization of Ecological Funds Released to the Great Green Wall by the International Organisations from 2015 to Date; and All Federal Allocations to the National Agency for the Great Green Wall as well as all Contract Awarded to Various Contractors for the Project from 2019 to Date.”
At the inaugural sitting of the Ad hoc Committee, the agency was alleged to have spent the sum of ₦81.2 billion on the planting of 21 million trees across 11 frontline states.
The states are: Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Yobe and Borno.
But the Director General of the agency, Dr. Yusuf Bukar, had during his presentation before the Committee last September explained that the sum of ₦53,425,423,874.34 was the amount released to the agency from inception to July 2023, as against the sum of N81.2 billion which the agency was alleged to have spent.
Bukar, who assumed office in April 2022, maintained that the agency has not acted outside its mandate in the implementation of the Programme.
He clarified that not all of the ₦53,425,423,874.34 received were used directly on planting activities.
Bukar pointed out that the NAGGW cost of planting, from inception in 2015 to July 2023 was ₦5,145,735,470.15.
He added that the approximate sum of ₦7.2 billion balance in the agency’s account are liabilities already committed to ongoing contracts that have already been awarded.
According to him, All unutilised funds from capital appropriation are refunded to the federal government TSA account at the end of the financial year where applicable.
The Committee in its report faulted the claim of ₦81.2 billion to the agency, saying evidence from the hearing indicated that the NAGGW received a total sum of ₦53,425,423,874.34 only from inception in 2015 to July, 2023.
It discovered in its investigation that the agency did not receive budgetary allocation for 2015; while ecological funds were not released to the agency until 2019.
The committee revealed that the percentage of ecological funding going to the agency was reduced from 15 percent provided for by the Act to just five percent with effect from January 2020 to date.
The committee frowned at unilateral reduction in the statutory allocation to the agency by fiat, and urged government, as a matter of urgency, to revert the Ecological Fund releases to the agency back to 15 percent as provided for by the NAGGW Act.
It said: “That the total sum of ₦20,168,363,662.18 only being the shortfall of the reduction from Ecological Fund for January, 2020 to date, be immediately released to the Agency to fund its activities.”
The committee recommended among others that that: “Ecological fund office should calculate remit to the NAGGW the total sums due to the agency from the Ecological Fund from 2015 to 2018.
“Urge the National Agency for the Great Green Wall to as a matter of urgency include
the frontline states of Adamawa, Bauchi and Gombe States in the fourth phase of the afforestation projects which are to commence soon.”