Kogi is one of the Nigerian states hit by floods in 2022.
The floods in Kogi at some point made motorists plying the state, which connects the capital city Abuja, stranded. This is aside the loss of lives and properties reported along that axis due to erosion and floods.
Petrol marketers in October 2022 blamed Kogi erosion as the cause of gasoline scarcity in Abuja.
Already, there has been a prediction that there will be more rainfall in Kogi and many other states in 2023.
Despite this development, a review of the state’s budget performance documents shows that only 3.8 percent of the budget for flood and erosion control in the 2022 fiscal year was spent.
In 2022, the state flood and erosion control budget stood at N106.3 million. However, at the year’s end, only N4 million was spent.
In 2021, the state budgeted N105.480 million. However, only N26.908 million was spent on flood and erosion control, representing 26 percent budget perforamance.
The 2023 Q1 budget performance report shows that while the state budgeted N101 million, nothing was spent on flood and erosion control. Hence the state recorded zero percent budget perormance.
Whither econological fund?
Between 2021 and 2022, the state spent N30 million on flood and erosion control. However, it got the sum of N1.3 billion as the ecological fund. This is broken down into N667.38 million in 2022 and N634.67 million in 2021.
To put it into better context, in 2021, Kogi spent 4 percent of what it received as ecological funds on flood and erosion control. Similarly, in 2022, the state spent only 0.6 percent of what it received as net ecological funds on erosion and flood control.
The Director of climate-focused Waterwide, Mr Wilson Atumeyi, told Dataphyte that it was necessary to audit states’ spending of ecological funds and their commitment to tackling flood and erosion.
A climate change advocate, Mr Dare Akogun, also explained that states needed to show more commitment to tackling ecological issues such as flooding, which also required transparency in handling monetary obligations.
This report was produced in fulfilment of the UNESCO & CIJ London Climate Change in News Media project facilitated by the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development.