Nigeria’s Minister of Environment, Dr Mohammed Abdullahi, says Nigerians must ask their governors questions about what they did with the enormous sums of money they routinely receive from the Federation Account for ecological challenges in light of the recent flooding that wreaked havoc in some states.
Recall that the federal government recently charged state governors with embezzling money from local governments, claiming that this theft was the cause of the nation’s widespread poverty and the barrier to local growth.
Under the auspices of the Nigeria Governors’ Forum, the governors responded, claiming that the Federal Government’s assertion that states were to blame for the rise in poverty rates was unfounded, even as they attributed the issue to the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s failure to control insecurity.
In a speech on Wednesday, the minister of the environment said that if the governors had used ecological monies to address ecological issues in their individual states, the degree of flooding that Nigeria endures every year would not have been as severe, often resulting in fatalities.
Read also: Climate: study reveals Rising temperatures cause distress to fetuses
Abdullahi argued that while the federal government, through the relevant ministries and agencies, such as the Department of the Environment, has a role to play in preventing and controlling flooding, state governments also have a responsibility to contribute using the enormous sums of money they have raised for environmental causes.
While outlining the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari’s performance in the environmental sector from 2015 to the present, the minister revealed that the Environment Ministry generated N8.7 billion domestically through environmental services and paid it into the Treasury Single Account of the Federal Government after reeling off a barrage of accomplishments purportedly recorded by the ministry.
He added that Nigeria had taken numerous steps to lessen the effects of climate change, assuring that the country will not fall behind in the process of switching to a more sustainable form of energy.
Story was adapted from Vanguard.
