FLOOD, erosion, desert encroachment are among the commonest environmental disasters that Nigeria faces. The Ecological Fund was created in 1981 to be used to intervene in these areas.

Many Nigerians never heard about the Ecological Fund until the disagreements between former President Olusegun Obasanjo and former Vice-President Abubakar Atiku, a prelude to the 2007 elections, brought the fund to more public knowledge. As their feud deepened, both accused each other of mismanaging the fund.

It transpired that at certain times, when they worked together, they used the fund to fuel their political machines. Abuses of the fund continue under different schemes. A major evidence of the abuses is the non-availability of the fund for pro-action interventions that can moderate the impact of the disasters these environmental shortcomings can cause.

Billions of Naira goes into the fund annually from two per cent of the monthly allocations from the federation account and another one per cent from the derivation account. Criteria for access to the fund remain clear. The President, when persuaded grants states he wants to funds from the pool.

States abuse the largesse. They do not account for the money; they freely deploy it to areas of priority, often unrelated to ecological issues. Abuse of the Ecological Fund is usually among charges against former governors, who the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, put on trial.

Joshua Chibu Dariye, former governor of Plateau State, told Nigerians in 2006, that he spent N1.6 billion, the state’s share of the Ecological Fund, in the campaign expenses of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in the 2003 elections.

Why are governments unenthusiastic after solving the ecological challenges of Nigeria with the resources accumulated since 1981? Is the environment so unimportant? There appears to be misunderstanding of the importance of the environment to the sustenance of life or the temptation to abuse the fund is too much to resist.

Lamentations over uses of the fund ended without actions. Three years ago, Senator Smart Adeyemi informed the Senate that the Federal Government withheld N9.3 billion that was due to the National Emergency Management Agency. “In the course of our oversight work on NEMA on January 18, 2008, it was discovered that the 20 per cent Ecological Fund due to NEMA was not released.

The total amount due NEMA as outstanding allocation from 2003 to 2006 and the whole allocation for 2007 as Ecological Fund is N9, 398, 603,500.21,” Adeyemi said.

In June 2010, the House of Representatives raised queries over curious withdrawals and loans to agencies and persons totalling N146.594 billion, mainly irrelevant to objectives of the fund. Like in the Senate, the House took no action.

Last year, two governors detailed the wastes in the use of the funds. Peter Obi of Anambra States said: “The Federal Government awards contracts under the Ecological Fund without informing states or requesting states to make inputs, especially on sites that are more critical.

The implication is contracts are awarded for erosion projects, which are either non-existent or outside the priority areas begging for attention.”

Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe State said: “The Federal Government’s policy of not involving the affected communities or the state governments in the federally-funded ecological projects needs to be reviewed. The Federal Government undertakes projects which are at cross-purpose with and even detrimental to the overall objectives of combating desertification and eradication of poverty.”

Another beautiful government idea is going to ruins — and with it the environment — unless the National Assembly intervenes firmly, and fast.