By Adedapo Adesanya
The Senate has summoned Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Mr Boss Mustapha; the Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Mr Ahmed Idris; and the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, to explain the whereabouts of an ecological fund of N596 billion.
The summon came on Thursday following an audit query from the Auditor-General of Federation, Mr Anthony Ayine, which said that between 1999 and 2015, a total of N596 billion was transferred from the nation’s coffers into the ecological fund account without proper accounting.
Mr Ayine had said that contrary to the provision of Section 5(4) of the Revenue Allocation Act which requires that an agency be established to manage the ecological fund, no agency had been established to manage it.
He said that instead the National Committee on Ecological Problems (NCEP) is the body responsible for handling ecological problems in the country which is a body under the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) hence why Mr Mustapha was summoned.
It was also revealed that the Chairman of the NCEP is the Minister for Environment, Housing and Urban Development but this is a separate ministry under the present administration.
Thereafter, the Senate committee chairman, Mr Matthew Urhoghide, summoned the Secretary General of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, while also asking the CBN to submit the statement of ecological fund account to the committee.
“The Central Bank should come and furnish us with the statement of account of the Ecological Fund. The SGF should come and brief us on the statement of account of the Ecological Fund,” Mr Urhoghide said.
Dipo Olowookere