How the Great Green Wall Agency spent $81.2 billion to plant 21 million trees – Reps

The National Agency for the Great Green Wall (NAGGW) was given ecological funding, and the House of Representatives Ad hoc Committee is looking into how those monies were used. They have discovered N81.2 billion, which was supposedly used to plant 21 million trees throughout 11 states.

The investigation has been ongoing since 2015.

The chairman of the committee in Abuja, Rep. Isma’ila Dabo, lamented that environmental problems persisted despite the program’s funding.

He claimed that the probe was necessary due to the funding provided by the Federal Government and international partners.

He stated that in order to verify the claims, the committee would conduct an on-site assessment tour of all the initiatives carried out under this plan.

He claimed that the committee’s primary goal was to make sure that public funds were used for the intended purpose and not to embarrass any particular person or group.

Not out of personal hatred but rather in the best interests of our country, we won’t hesitate to point fingers when necessary.

The 11 states where the trees are being planted, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), are Kebbi, Sokoto, Zamfara, Katsina, Kano, Jigawa, Bauchi, Gombe, Adamawa, Yobe, and Borno.

The contradicting financial reports that were provided to the committee by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and office of the Accountant General of the Federation (oAGF) were met with disapproval by the committee.

The committee said that 80% of the trees planted by the agency did not live, which piqued their interest given the agency’s incapacity to support the majority of the tree planting programmes carried out thus far.

According to the data provided by Mrs. Oluwatoyin Madein, Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), a total of N19.378 billion was disbursed to the agency from the derivation and ecology accounts during February 2019 to date.

The Great Green Wall Act was signed by the President in 2015, according to Dr. Yusuf Bukar, managing director of NAGGW, in response to inquiries from the committee.

He said that it allowed the organisation to carry out the Nigerian portion of the campaign as an African Union initiative being carried out in 11 African nations.

He claims that this is done to address the issue of land degradation, desertification, drought, climate change, and the impacted communities’ means of subsistence.

Adding that N2.4 billion was released in the first phase and N7.3 billion was released in the second, he said that the agency planted one million trees in Borno, Yobe, and other states.

He continued by saying that gifts, contributions from the fund for the development of natural resources, and 15% of the ecological fund for the Great Green Wall were among the funds accruing into the agency’s account.

Others include loans and grants from international and development institutions, national bilateral and multilateral organisations and donors, as well as from private individuals.

He claimed that the organisation frequently received funding from donor organisations, but he did not offer any supporting documentation regarding the total sum so far. (NAN)