The National Economic Council (NEC) yesterday resolved that 19 states and the FCT deprived of Ecological Fund by the administration of former president Goodluck Jonathan be given N2 billion each.
The 11-man committee, headed by Kaduna State Governor Nasir
el-Rufai, told the NEC meeting chaired by Acting President Yemi Osinbajo that
it established that in 2013, Jonathan’s administration gave N2 billion each to
some states and excluded others.
Addressing State House reporters later, el-Rufai said
Jonathan gave the fund to Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states and those of
other parties sympathetic to the PDP, “like Labour Party in Ondo and APGA in
Anambra State. 19 states and the FCT did not get the N2 billion from the Ecological
Fund.”
He said Jonathan excluded Adamawa, Akwa Ibom, Borno, Edo,
Ekiti, Imo, Jigawa, Kano, Kwara, Lagos, Nassarawa, Niger, Ogun, Osun, Oyo,
Rivers, Sokoto, Yobe and Zamfara States as well as the Federal Capital
Territory.
“So, essentially what President Goodluck Jonathan did was to
take N2 billion each from the Ecological Fund and give to some PDP states. Any
PDP state that was not his friend; like Kano and Kwara didn’t get, and all the
other opposition parties like no ACN state got anything, no ANPP state got
anything.
“This, the committee of the council considered
discriminatory and recommended that the 19 states and the FCT that did not get
the N2 billion in 2013 be given N2 billion each to level the playing field,” he
said.
The governor also disclosed that very clear criteria for
accessing the fund would later be recommended to the council for the
consideration of the Federal Government.
He said out of the N33.6 billion in Ecological Fund, there
was a presidential directive that the Ecological Fund Office must maintain a
balance of N20 billion in case of emergency requiring intervention.
“This means there is only about N13 billion valuable for
distribution to the states that were discriminated against, so it isn’t enough
to give them N2 billion each,” he said.
The committee, in its interim report, informed the NEC that
the revised sharing formula of the Ecological Fund as modified is as follows:
Federal Government-- 1%, States - -- 0.75%, Local governments---
0.60%,
The committee also stated that all states and local
government areas had got their share of the Ecological Fund, and “that the only
thing left is the Federal Government’s share of 1%.
“Of the 1% belonging to the FG, (which now stands at N33.6
billion) NEMA and Great Green Wall project are statutorily entitled to 20% and
15 % respectively. Only 65% of the FG’s share is available for sharing.
The committee noted that there “is need to establish clear
criteria for sharing the 65% of the FG share among States of the Federation.
By Isiaka Wakili
