SERAP gives Tinubu 7 days to probe Borno State, others on management of Ecological Funds

 Abuja, Sept. 22, 2024 – The Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP), a non-governmental organisation, has given President Bola Tinubu 7 days to investigate how Borno State and others spent their Ecological Funds since 2001or face legal action.

It urged the president to direct Lateef Fagbemi, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, and the appropriate anti-corruption agencies to particularly investigate how Borno state spent the N816 million it received between January 2024 and June 2024.

SERAP made the demand in a letter by its Deputy Director, Kolawole Oluwadare, dated Sept.  21, 2024.

“Your government has a legal obligation to address the prevalence of flooding across the country and its effect on people, and to ensure that the money meant to stop the floods is not lost to corruption.

“There is a legitimate public interest in ensuring justice for the victims of Borno’s flood victims, and accountability for the spending of the monthly ecological funds collected by the state through the Federal Account Allocation Committee (FAAC).

 “Although ecological funds are shared across the three tiers of government, and emergency management agencies, the funds are managed and supervised by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

“The devastation in Borno highlights your government’s obligation to promote and ensure transparency and accountability in the spending of ecological funds by all tiers of government and emergency management agencies.

“SERAP notes that Borno state receives millions of naira monthly through the Federal Allocation Committee as shares from the Ecological Fund.

“Other states and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja also monthly receive funds from the Ecological Fund. According to reports, trillions of naira have over the years been budgeted through the Ecological Fund to tackle floods and other ecological problems.

“SERAP is concerned that the ecological funds collected by Borno state over the years may have been diverted, mismanaged or unaccounted.

“SERAP is also concerned about reports that the funds released to the states for ecological projects are characterised by mismanagement, diversion of funds, substandard and abandoned projects fully paid for.

“Ecological funds have also been allegedly spent for other purposes such as election campaigns and political patronage.

“We would be grateful if the recommended measures are taken within 7 days of the receipt and/or publication of this letter. If we have not heard from you by then, SERAP shall consider appropriate legal actions to compel your government to comply with our request in the public interest.

“Your government has legal obligations to ensure protection of the rights of flood victims in Borno and elsewhere in the country, including the obligation to ensure they receive adequate food, shelter, safe drinking water, access to sanitation and other basic aid.

“Your government must use all means available to it to prevent and address the threats to human rights that result from climate change and to provide access to remedies when these rights are violated.

“According to reports, the recent floods in Borno started when a dam (the Alau Dam in Maiduguri) burst its walls following heavy rainfall. More than 30 people have reportedly been killed by the floods.

“About one million people have been affected, most of whom are housed in camps without food and clean water. According to the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), 229 people have been killed by floods in Nigeria since the start of the year. The worst flooding in recent times killed 600 people in 2022.

“According to a four-year audit of the Ecological Fund Office carried out by the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, NEITI, the total amount allocated and received by the fund from December 2011 to November 2016 was N277 billion.

“The operations of the Fund from 2012 to 2016 reportedly showed that some of the disbursements were not utilised for the purpose for which it was established. During these periods, N74,170,932,645.20 was released to state governments to solve ecological problems in their states.

“SERAP notes that the Ecological Fund was established in 1981 to respond to and address serious ecological problems such as soil erosion, flooding, drought, desertification, oil spillage, general environmental pollution, and related issues, as well as prevent suffering and possible death from these natural disasters.

“As the floods in Borno State have shown, the lack of transparency and accountability in the management of ecological funds by states and the resulting human costs directly threaten fundamental human rights – rights to life, to food, to a place to live and work – rights that your government has an obligation to protect.

“Nigerian Constitution 1999 (as amended) and the human rights and anticorruption treaties to which the country is a state party impose obligations on your government to probe and prosecute allegations of corruption in the spending of Ecological Fund, and to ensure access to justice and effective remedies for victims of flooding.

“Corruption and mismanagement of the fund have caused negative human health impacts and rendered already impoverished citizens incapable of satisfying their minimum needs for survival.

“The failure of successive governments and high-ranking government officials to prevent corruption in the spending of Ecological Fund has hugely contributed to the inability of authorities at all levels to address ecological challenges, and the impact of flooding across the country.

“We note that while a governor may enjoy immunity from arrest and prosecution, he does not enjoy immunity from investigation. Any criminal allegation against a sitting governor can and should be investigated pending the time the governor leaves office and loses immunity.

“The findings of such an investigation can also be the basis for initiating impeachment proceedings against the governor.”    (GBN)