Published in Latest Reports
The latest audit report of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that the Federal Government denied the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) of its statutory share of the Ecology fund to the tune of 12.6 Billion naira from 2012 to 2016.
Ode Uduu ,
December 7th, 2019
The latest audit report of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that the Federal Government denied the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) of its statutory share of the Ecology fund to the tune of 12.6 Billion naira from 2012 to 2016.
This follows a similar trend in the previous 5 years 2007-2011 where the federal government also withheld NGN19 billion out of NGN43 billion due to NEMA, starving the relief agency of 44% of funds it critically needs to reach, resettle and rehabilitate over 2 million displaced persons in Nigeria. NEMA failed woefully in this period as the agency could only complete 36 out of 139 projects it set out to accomplish.
NEMA’s statutory share of the Ecological Fund
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is entitled to 20% statutory deductions from 1% of the Federal Government’s share of the Derivation and Ecology.
The Ecological Fund was originally established in 1981 through the Federation Account Act (1981) based on the recommendation of the Okigbo Commission. The Act has subsequently been modified by Decrees 36 of 1984 and 106 of 1992 respectively, and further modified through the Allocation of Revenue/Federation Account etc. (modification) order of 8th July 2002.
The Fund is an intervention facility established to address serious ecological problems across the country. Its sources of revenue are two: The first is a statutory allocation of 1% of Federal Government’s share of Derivation and Ecology, and the other source is the Excess Crude Account.
The NEITI report shows that a total of N277 billion was transferred to the Ecology fund for the period of December 2011 to November 2016. This is shown in the table below:
However, the details of the statutory allocation to NEMA from the Derivation and Ecology Fund is summarized in the table below:
The table shows that the total monies allocated to the ecology fund stand at NGN276.51 billion. NEMA is to be given 20% of the total pull which amounts to NGN 55.30 billion. However, It received only NGN42.69 throughout the five years under review. This leaves an outstanding of NGN12.6 billion yet to be remitted to NEMA.
The plight of internally displaced persons (IDPs) as a result of human conflict and natural disasters in Nigeria continues to worsen and those living in the IDP camps are unable to restart their normal lives as funds meant to cater for them by NEMA for a whole decade (2007 to 2016) are being withheld by the federal government.
The Way Forward
Some recommendations made in the Audit report are worthy of note: The Federal Government should have operational guidelines for the release of the funds mainly for stabilization purposes. The object of the fund should be adhered to and funds released appropriately.
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The latest audit report of Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI) has revealed that the Federal Government denied the National Emergency Management Authority (NEMA) of its statutory share of the Ecology fund to the tune of 12.6 Billion naira from 2012 to 2016.
