Areview of the Delta State’s budget performance documents has shown that the state government under Governor Sheriff Oborevwori spent a total of N11.3million on erosion and flooding control in 2024 under the “Preservation of Environment” line item of the budget performance document.
A report published by Sahara Reporters on Saturday said despite the fact that the state budgeted N799million for erosion and flooding control in the 2024 fiscal year.
Further review of the document shows that under the “Ministry of Environment Capital Projects,” a line item titled “Flood control in the state” had N153million budgeted and fully spent.
Another line item read “Flood control measures at Oghara,” to which N20million was budgeted, but nothing was spent by the end of the year.
The desilting of internal drains in the state, according to the report, was allocated N84 million, yet no money was spent for this purpose.
Apart from the N153million spent on flood control under the Ministry of Environment capital expenditure and the N11.3million spent under the “Preservation of Environment” line item, Delta State did not allocate or spend any other funds on flood and erosion control, according to its budget performance document.
This means that at most, N164.3 million was spent on erosion and flood control in 2024.
Despite spending only N164.3 million on erosion and flooding control throughout the year, the state received N345 million as ecological funds between February and July 2024, representing a six-month period.
In July, the state received N69 million in ecological funds, N53.8 million in June, N58.139 million in May, N48.8 million in April, N52.2 million in March, and N63.3 million in February, according to details published by the National Bureau of Statistics.
Other expenditures typically incurred by the state for ecological needs may include tree planting, which Delta State also failed to prioritise.
Under the “Preservation of Environment” line item, the state government budgeted N47 million for “Tree planting” but spent only N1.7 million throughout the year.
Similarly, under the capital projects of the Ministry of Environment, N30 million was budgeted for a “Tree Planting Campaign Scheme,” yet zero naira was spent.
While the state government failed to prioritise erosion, flooding control, it spent N16.752 billion on buying vehicles in 2024.
The vehicles purchased include fifty Toyota SUVs, 150 Toyota Corolla, sixty Hilux-Pick up and ten Coaster buses.
This poor funding for erosion and flood control comes despite the devastation caused by flooding in Delta State over time.
During the 2022 flooding incidents that ravaged Nigeria, three people were reportedly killed as floods devastated the Oko community in Oshimili North Local Government Area of Delta State, leaving many homeless.
It was reported that no fewer than 20 communities in Delta State were submerged by flooding in October 2024.
The worst-hit areas included Ndokwa East, Ndokwa West, Isoko North, and Isoko South Local Government Areas. Schools, farmlands, and properties were also destroyed.
Many communities were reported unreachable as roads linking them were submerged.
Concerns have been raised over Nigeria’s management of ecological funds.
In October 2022, SERAP urged then-President Muhammadu Buhari to probe ecological funds. The appeal was made by the organization’s deputy director, Kolawole Oluwadare, in a statement issued on October 22, 2022.
The organisation stated: “Trillions of ecological funds have allegedly gone down the drain. The resulting human costs directly threaten human rights – rights to life and to a place to live – rights that your government has an obligation to protect.”
SERAP further emphasised: “Irrespective of the cause of a threat to human rights, your government still has positive obligations to use all the means within its disposal to uphold the human rights of those affected.”
The organization also noted: “Although ecological funds are shared across the three tiers of government and emergency management agencies, the funds are managed and supervised by the Federal Government.”
The letter read in part: “Your government has the legal obligation to hold all tiers of government and emergency management agencies to account, and to trace, find, and recover any missing ecological funds.”
“Your government has the legal obligation to address the calamitous consequences of flooding for the human rights of millions of people and to prevent and address some of the direst consequences that climate change may reap on human rights, especially given the disproportionate impact on vulnerable people and communities.”
“Your government must use all means available to it to prevent and address the threats to human rights that result from climate change, and to provide access to effective remedies for victims when these rights are violated,” the statement read.
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