‘Why bill to regulate EFO operations is to be enacted’

The Permanent Secretary of Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Dr. Habiba Lawal, said in the past regime some of the ecological funds were not utilized for ecological issues but for other projects in the country. She said to ensure that the ecological funds are restricted to ecological interventions, the bill seeking to prohibit the abuse of […]

The Permanent Secretary of Ecological Fund Office (EFO), Dr. Habiba Lawal, said in the past regime some of the ecological funds were not utilized for ecological issues but for other projects in the country.

She said to ensure that the ecological funds are restricted to ecological interventions, the bill seeking to prohibit the abuse of the fund is before the National Assembly.

Dr Lawal, who noted this at an interactive session with journalists in Abuja, recently, said the diversion of the fund happened between 2009 and 2013. 

She said: “From 2015 to date no fund has been utilized on anything order than ecological intervention; no approval has been granted out of the ecological fund to use the fund on non-ecological issue.” 

She noted that the EFO office was directed by President Muhammadu Buhari to carry out a comprehensive national survey of ecological zones, variations, scope and severity of sites across the country.

According to her, in a few weeks’ time, the office would present to the FEC all the approvals and all the projects they have done since the beginning of this regime. “The document is ready and after it, we expect that the minister will commission and hand over those projects that have been concluded to communities,” she stated.

The permanent secretary further said “since the inception of this administration in May 2015, 88 projects were awarded, 45 have been completed and 43 are still on-going. About 90 per cent are on soil erosion because of the prevalence.”

Meanwhile, the Director of Drought and Desertification of the office, Mr. Ady Yusuf, said insurgency has kept in abeyance most of the projects aimed at addressing desertification and drought in the northern part of the country.

Yusuf said the office had to suspend its project on desertification when the National Agency for Great Green Wall (NAGGW) was established since they aim for the same purpose.

He, however, said both the NAGGW and the Ecological Office were trying to synergise on how they could complement their work towards fighting desertification in the northern part of the country.

“We hope to go ahead and commence a lot of projects in the northern part of Nigeria,” he added.