Floods: Probe Ecological Fund Spending By Borno Govt – SERAP Tells Tinubu

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project, SERAP, has asked President Bola Tinubu to swiftly probe the spending of the billions of naira of Ecological Fund collected by Borno State since 2001, including the N816 million collected by the state between January 2024 and June 2024.

SERAP said suspected perpetrators of allegations of corruption and mismanagement of ecological funds should face prosecution as appropriate, if there is sufficient admissible evidence, and any proceeds of corruption should be fully recovered.

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The Right organization also urged Tinubu to direct the Attorney-General of the Fedration, Lateef Fagbemi and appropriate anti-corruption agencies to urgently identify and ensure access to justice and effective remedies to affected victims in Borno state.

Similarly, it asked him to direct the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Mr George Akume to work with appropriate anticorruption agencies to track and monitor the spending of Ecological Fund by the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, 36 state governors, the 774 local government areas, as well as all emergency management agencies across the country funded through the Ecological Fund.

In the letter dated 21 September 2024 and signed by SERAP deputy director Kolawole Oluwadare, the organisation said, “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).”

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“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,” the letter read.

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