Flooding: Where is LGs’ N82bn ecological fund?
From Ismail Adebayo (Birnin Kebbi), Abdullahi A. Chakwa (Gusau) & Baba Martins (Abuja) A Kebbi State High Court judge, Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza, has been abducted by gunmen at his residence along Zogirma Road in Bunza Local Government Area of the state. The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, marks the second […]
From Ismail Adebayo (Birnin Kebbi), Abdullahi A. Chakwa (Gusau) & Baba Martins (Abuja)
A Kebbi State High Court judge, Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza, has been abducted by gunmen at his residence along Zogirma Road in Bunza Local Government Area of the state.
The incident, which occurred in the early hours of Sunday, marks the second abduction of a serving judge in recent times.
A state high court judge, Justice Ebiyerin Umokoro, had been kidnapped in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State in June 2025. He was freed after 12 days in captivity.
Daily Trust gathered that the gunmen attacked Justice Bunza shortly after he returned from a trip to Sokoto.
“He had just returned from Sokoto when the gunmen stormed his residence and took him away,” a source said.
The source added that no one else in the house was injured, although the attackers fired several gunshots before leaving with the judge.
“Immediately the incident occurred, we reported it to the appropriate authorities, including the leadership of the High Court,” he said.
The Police Public Relations Officer (PPRO), Kebbi State Command, SP Bashir Usman, confirmed the abduction.
“I can confirm that Hon. Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza was abducted from his residence in Bunza around midnight,” he said.
The police spokesman said the Commissioner of Police, CP Umar Muhammad Hadejia, had deployed tactical and intelligence operatives after receiving the report.
“As we speak, our personnel are combing identified locations, including forest areas, to ensure that the judge is rescued alive and unharmed,” he said.
A senior official of the Kebbi State High Court, who requested anonymity because he was not authorised to speak on the matter, described the incident as a sad development for the judiciary.
“I am not authorised to speak officially, but this is a painful moment for us. To hear that one of our judges was abducted from his residence is deeply disturbing,” he said.
He added that the management of the High Court had already met with heads of security agencies in the state to strategise on securing the judge’s immediate release.
As of the time of filing this report, no group had claimed responsibility for the abduction.
How Justice Bunza was kidnapped – Family
A brother of the abducted judge, Malam Shehu Yusuf Bunza, told our correspondent that the family was deeply worried about his whereabouts.
Shehu said, “I was in Birnin Kebbi when one of his sons, Abdullahi, called me. He said about seven armed men followed his father as he was returning from Sokoto. As he drove into his compound and was getting out of his vehicle, they approached him.
“They asked if he was Justice Faruku. He denied it, saying Faruku had gone to Birnin Kebbi, but they insisted they knew he was the person they were looking for.
“He then asked them in Hausa, ‘Lafiya?’ They ordered him to keep quiet, but when he continued speaking, they brought out their guns and started shooting indiscriminately.
“They asked him to take them to his rooms, but he refused, saying there were married women inside.
“They also asked for one of his sons, Abdullahi, but he told them the boy had gone out. After that, they took him away on their motorcycles.”
Shehu said he asked what steps the family had taken after the incident, and Abdullahi told him they had reported the matter to the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Bunza Police Station.
Kebbi State has witnessed bandit attacks in recent years, although the violence has largely been concentrated in the southern and eastern parts of the state.
Most of the worst-hit areas border forests in Niger, Zamfara and parts of Sokoto states, which armed groups use as hideouts.
One of the most notable incidents occurred in November 2025 when gunmen attacked the Government Girls Comprehensive Secondary School in Maga, Danko/Wasagu Local Government Area, killed the vice principal and abducted 25 schoolgirls. The students were later rescued.
Although Bunza LGA has not been one of Kebbi’s banditry hotspots, the abduction of Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza represents a significant escalation in the state’s security situation.
Appeal for rescue
Shehu described Justice Bunza as a peaceful and humble man who had no known enemies.
“Justice Faruku is a peace-loving man. He has not offended anyone. Whenever he is not sitting at the High Court in Birnin Kebbi, he stays quietly at his home in Bunza.
“He hardly goes to the market. Whenever he needs to buy something, he remains in the car while one of his children goes into the market to make the purchase.
“We are appealing to the government and security agencies to do everything possible to rescue him. His wives, children and the entire family are deeply worried about his whereabouts,” he said.
Ahmed Idris, the Chief Press Secretary to Governor Nasir Idris, said the state government was working closely with security agencies to secure the judge’s release.
“The governor has directed security personnel to intensify efforts to rescue him. The police have already deployed officers to track his abductors and ensure that he returns home safely. We are optimistic that he will soon be rescued and reunited with his family,” he said.
Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza was born in Bunza Local Government Area of Kebbi State on the 15th November 1960.
His alma mata include Bunza Waje Primary School; Haliru Abdu Teachers College; College of Legal and Islamic Studies, Sokoto and Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto
He was called to the Bar in 1990 after completing the Nigerian Law School in Lagos.
Before his elevation to the bench, Justice Bunza served in different judicial capacities, including magistrate, Chief Magistrate, and Deputy Chief Registrar.
He was appointed as a high court judge in 2012.
Matawalle seeks ‘Operation No Mercy’ on bandits
Minister of State for Defence, Mohammed Bello Matawalle, has directed troops of Operation Fansan Yamma and other military formations operating across the North-West to intensify offensive operations against terrorists following renewed attacks in parts of Zamfara State.
Matawalle gave the directive while condoling with victims of recent terrorist attacks in Bungudu and other affected communities in Zamfara, reaffirming the Federal Government’s commitment to restoring peace and security across the region.
Daily Trust had reported how policemen were killed while a Local Government Chairman was abducted from his residence on Saturday.
In a statement issued by his Personal Assistant on Media, Ahmed Dan Wudil, the minister described the attacks as unfortunate and assured residents that security forces would sustain the ongoing military campaign against terrorists.
He instructed the leadership of Operation Fansan Yamma to remain resolute in the fight against terrorism in collaboration with other security agencies.
The minister further ordered all military formations involved in counter-terrorism operations in Zamfara, Kebbi, Katsina, Sokoto and Kaduna states to step up their operations by deploying every lawful and necessary measure to dismantle terrorist networks through what he described as “surgical operations without mercy.”
Matawalle also appealed to traditional rulers, community leaders and residents to support security agencies with credible and timely intelligence, especially on individuals suspected of aiding terrorists with information or logistics used in planning attacks on rural communities.
He directed senior military commanders in the most volatile operational areas to strengthen surveillance and increase patrols to identify and destroy terrorist hideouts and safe havens before they could be used to launch further attacks.
The minister commended the Armed Forces and other security personnel for what he described as their gallantry, professionalism and sacrifices in the ongoing counter-terrorism campaign.
Matawalle urged the troops to sustain the momentum until terrorism is completely defeated across the affected parts of the country.
Judge’s abduction shows insecurity persists – ADC
The African Democratic Congress (ADC) has said the abduction of Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza shows that insecurity remains widespread across Nigeria despite repeated government assurances.
In a statement by its National Publicity Secretary, Bolaji Abdullahi, the opposition party said the judge’s abduction, alongside recent attacks in Zamfara, Benue and Borno states, highlighted the need for stronger action to tackle insecurity.
The party also urged President Bola Tinubu to provide regular updates on efforts to rescue victims still in captivity, including 176 residents of Woro community in Kaiama Local Government Area of Kwara State, who were abducted on February 3, 2026.
The party said the president’s recent celebration of the rescue of abductees in Oyo State has raised concerns about the fate of victims still being held in other parts of the country.
It said communities in Borno continue to suffer insurgent attacks and displacement, while no fewer than 40 residents, mostly women and children, were recently abducted from 11 communities in Mayanchi District of Maru Local Government Area of Zamfara State.
The party said fresh attacks also claimed lives in Benue’s Sankera axis, arguing that the incidents showed insecurity remained a daily reality for millions of Nigerians.
“The people abducted in Woro on February 3 matter. The women and children abducted in Mayanchi, Zamfara, matter. The families living under siege in Borno matter. The victims of fresh attacks in Benue matter. Justice Faruku Hassan Bunza matters.
“They deserve the same urgency, the same empathy and the same presidential attention that every rescued Nigerian rightly receives.
“Leadership is not measured by how quickly government celebrates a rescue; it is measured by whether no Nigerian is left behind or forgotten,” ADC said.
The party urged the president to back his assurances with action by providing timelines, progress reports and evidence that no affected community had been abandoned.
Toll of flooding on communities
Despite the billions of naira in ecological fund as well as other interventions from the federal government and development partners, many communities experience the devastating impacts of seasonal flooding.
Although poor practices such as indiscriminate waste disposal and building on floodplains have been partly blamed for flooding, there are widespread concerns that the state governments’ failure to effectively utilise the fund and release the local governments’ share has worsened these disasters, amidst the impact of climate change.
The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA), in its situation report, disclosed that 27 states, 123 LGAs, and 433,578 persons were affected by flooding as of November 4, 2025. About 241 people lost their lives, 144,790 persons were displaced, while 115 others were missing. At least 52,509 houses and 74,767 hectares of farmland were also damaged.
The agency noted that among those severely impacted were 197,566 children, 133,407 women, 82,820 men, 19,985 elderly persons, and 2,503 persons with disabilities.
The NIHSA in April 2026 warned that 33 states and the FCT would be at a high risk of flooding during the 2026 rainy season, with 14,118 communities across 266 LGAs identified as particularly vulnerable.
The high-risk states are: Abia, Adamawa, Anambra, Bauchi, Bayelsa, Benue, Borno, Cross River, Delta, Ebonyi, Edo, Enugu, Gombe, Imo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Kebbi, Kogi, Kwara, Lagos, Nasarawa, Niger, Ogun, Ondo, Osun, Oyo, Plateau, Rivers, Sokoto, Taraba, Yobe, Zamfara, and the FCT.
Communities in 405 LGAs across the 36 states, except Ekiti, fall under moderate risk, while 923 communities in 77 LGAs across 24 states are at low or minimal risk.
A credible source familiar with emergency management alleged that most states are not doing enough in terms of emergency preparedness and response as they keep relying on the federal government’s intervention despite the funds available to them.
“I can tell you that SEMA (State Emergency Management Agency) in most states is not effective. In fact, a state in the South South just launched its SEMA about a year ago. When emergencies like flooding affect people, they usually rush to NEMA. The states need to live up to their responsibilities while NEMA plays supportive roles,” the source said.
Residents lament
A resident of Okogbe community in Ahoada West LGA of Rivers, Kingsley Chime, told Daily Trust that they relied mainly on canoes for movement and constructed wooden structures to keep valuable items from being damaged by water.
He said: “You know it was at this Okogbe community that flood blocked the East-West road in 2022 and people could not travel from Bayelsa to Port Harcourt or Delta to Port Harcourt. What we did then was to use canoes to ferry people from the flooded areas, but when the water current became very high, we used trucks.”
Residents living in flood-prone areas in Adamawa State expressed concerns over how they coped during flooding.
Mallam Modibbo Modire and Blessing Yohanna, residents of Ummare and Modire in Yolde Pate Ward of Yola South LGA, said their houses were submerged and belongings destroyed.
They told Daily Trust in separate interviews that they had to relocate their families to their relatives’ homes for safety, stressing that the state government only brought relief materials to them through the State Emergency Management Agency (ADSEMA).
In Edo, communities mostly affected by flooding are located in Etsako East, Etsako Central and Esan South East LGAs. Over 25 communities, especially on the bank of the River Niger, are the worst-hit during the flood period.
A resident of Udaba community, Joseph Odemopa, said: “When the flood comes, we manage with it because it is a yearly occurrence in our community. Some of us don’t move out of the community; we find a way to survive.”
In Maiduguri, Borno State, residents in flood-prone areas complained that drainage channels are yet to be evacuated.
Ahmad Aji, a charcoal seller at Bulunkutu Tsallake, Maisandari ward, said: “The state government embarked on a construction project to address flood issues in Bulunkutu ward, Gomari, Dala and other major areas in the city, but the project has dragged on for over a year now.”
Malam Inuwa, a resident of Dala area in Maiduguri, said: “I lost half of my house to the flood last year. Now, my wife, six children and I are occupying only two bedrooms in the damaged house.
Earlier this year, the Borno State government established a 13-man committee to control illegal structures along river banks, buffer zones and waterways within Maiduguri.
The then Executive Secretary of Borno State Geographic Information Services (BOGIS), Adam Bababe, said 99 percent of the structures were developed illegally without government titles.
State govts’ agencies list efforts
The Director-General of the Bayelsa State Directorate of Flood and Erosion Control, Wilson Omuso, during a visit to Obirignene Community higher ground site, said the state government had expanded its provision of higher ground projects to three flood-prone communities in Ekeremor LGA to mitigate flooding in the affected communities.
He said this was in addition to the higher ground project completed at Biseni in Yenagoa LGA last year.
The Executive Secretary of the Adamawa State Emergency Management Agency, Celine Laori, said her agency had embarked on aggressive awareness campaigns in communities experiencing such flood challenges across the state.
The Executive Secretary, Edo State Management Agency, Jerry Idahosa, said the agency, in collaboration with the state’s Ministry of Environment and Waste Management Board, had cleared drainage channels across the state to ensure free flow of water in the event of flooding.
“We have also sensitized residents in flood-prone areas to what they need to do in the event of flooding before external help comes. We have carried out the renovation of the IDP camp in the event of flooding.”
LGs not receiving ecological funds – NULGE
The President-General of the Nigeria Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE), Aliyu Kankara, in an earlier interview with Daily Trust, Aliyu Haruna Kankara, had said: “I don’t think any local government receives any ecological fund. As long as you continue to send money to state governments instead of local governments, you are not sending money to local governments; you are sending money to state governors.
“That is the truth. The money is paid through the state-local government joint account and that account is controlled by governors. That is a sad situation. They spend the money themselves, just like the monthly federal allocation.”
Meanwhile, chairmen of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON) and NULGE in Adamawa declined to comment on the handling of ecological funds in the state.
The state ALGON chairman, Dr Titus Obadiah, told our reporter that he was not ready to speak on the matter, saying he would do so at an appropriate time.
Similarly, the Adamawa State chairman of NULGE, Stephen Penuel Agontara, said he could not discuss what he described as a confidential matter without approval from the union’s national secretariat.
The Auditor of the National Union of Local Government Employees (NULGE) in Kano Municipal Local Government Area, Musa Saleh Baba, said the union was not aware of how ecological funds are remitted or utilised. He referred our reporter to the state NULGE Chairman, Ibrahim Muhammad.
However, the chairman could not be reached, as several calls to his mobile phone were neither answered nor returned as of the time of filing this report.
We’re utilising ecological fund – Govs
In an earlier interview with Daily Trust, the Nigeria Governors Forum (NGF) had faulted NULGE’s claim, saying governors no longer tamper with council allocations following the Supreme Court’s ruling on local government autonomy.
The Director of the NGF Media & Strategic Communications, Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi, in a response to an inquiry by Daily Trust, said the ecological fund was being utilised for environmental issues.
He said, “In July 2024, the Nigerian Supreme Court affirmed the financial autonomy of the country’s local government areas in a landmark ruling. The decision prohibits state governors from seizing or tampering with funds allocated to local governments from the Federation Account. So, it is not correct that governors are sitting on the local government funds.
“Most Nigerian states have faced one major disaster or another in the last couple of years. From Borno State to Niger, we have seen floods ravage communities. Desertification has swept most parts of the far North and erosion has claimed many communities in the East. Therefore, state governments across the country are grappling with one disaster or another.”
Ecological fund not properly utilized – Experts
A professor of Geography and Environmental Management at Ambrose Alli University, Ekpoma, Prof. Magnus Ojeifo, said, “Every month, states receive millions of naira from the federal government to manage ecological problems, but this fund is rarely used for the purpose for which it is meant. Also, the agencies responsible are not doing their job. And in most cases, they are even bedeviled with corrupt practices. To get things done the way they should be, an independent agency should be set up with collaborative efforts of the government, the private sector, academia, and all the relevant organs.
“The body will be saddled with the responsibility of utilising the fund in each state. Until we do this, we won’t see results. Whether through the federal or state ministries of the environment, the fund is not giving us results. So, an independent agency under the collaborative efforts of the federal government, state government, academia and the private sector can help manage it appropriately.”
A professor of Climatology at the Federal University of Technology, Yola, Prof. Audu Ambrose Zemba, maintained that the current response to ecological challenges facing Nigerians suggests that the fund is underutilized.
“Just as the name suggests, the money is meant for ecological issues. It should be directed to issues of the environment like erosion, land degradation, floods, dry spells and even solid waste management. These are what the money should actually be spent on, but that is not the case. So if state and local governments could get as much as N123bn in one year, it’s a huge amount that can be put to good use, even if it is directed to only one problem at a time; let’s say tree planting.
“Our problem is that sometimes we talk of tree planting, but the idea is just to plant the tree and leave it. The government can employ people and pay them stipends such that after planting the tree, they will take care of it to a certain stage. Also, even though you cannot stop floods, there are certain things you have to put in place so that the impact is not much. These include embankment construction along the waterways, clearing of drainage channels and construction of new ones, as well as awareness creation. These will go a long way in reducing flooding,” Zemba stated.
A former chairman of the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Mr Olatunde Jaiyesimi, alleged that most of the drainage channels constructed by the government were substandard, as the contracts were awarded to political allies who, in turn, engaged contractors after taking their shares.